Old Flooded Coal Mine in England Produces Geothermal Heat in the Winter

An old coal mine that has been flooded in England may still be useful because it generates geothermal heat in the winter.

Old coal mines might still be used to heat homes, but not by burning fossil fuels this time. Martha Henriques investigates the structures warmed by the heat coming from the long-abandoned mine workings.

Old Flooded Coal Mine

Towers of wine cases that seem to reach the sky are stored in a vast warehouse outside of Gateshead, North East England. In general, maintaining these enormous stacks of alcohol at a comfortable temperature throughout the year would result in a staggering energy bill, especially during the brutal northeastern winters.

But this is not the case, as is the case for a few but steadily increasing number of buildings in Gateshead.

Deep underground, the warehouse is located above the ruins of previous, flooded mine workings. These old flooded mines, which will never again bring coal to the surface, are currently producing a resource that, ironically, can aid today's humanity in producing fewer carbon emissions rather than more. This is geothermal heat.

Clean Heat for the Winter

Long-closed mines in this region of England, which has a long and complicated history of coal mining, are being repurposed as a massive, environmentally friendly source of heat. The beginning only includes this warehouse. Using the clean heat generated from its mines located 490 feet below the surface, Gateshead is about to launch a new district heating system that will warm homes and buildings in the area for a price 5% below market rate, BBC reports.

The Gateshead District Energy Network (DEN), according to Gateshead, is currently being expanded to reach Gateshead Stadium. In addition, a new housing development that will be built close to the A184 Felling Bypass will also be serviced by DEN. The DEN already has the capacity to meet the energy needs of 5,000 homes.

Geothermal Energy

According to the Department of Energy, geothermal energy can be simply described as heat energy that originates from the earth, hence the terms "Geo" (which means "earth") and "thermal" (for heat).

Geothermal resources are hot water reservoirs that are naturally occurring or artificially created at various temperatures as well as depths below the surface of the Earth. In order to access steam and extremely hot water which may be pulled to the surface for use in a wide range of uses, including the production of electricity, direct use, and heating and cooling, wells can be drilled into groundwater aquifers. The western states of the United States have the most geothermal reservoirs.

No matter the weather, geothermal energy is reliable. It is also a clean, domestic, and renewable source of power.

More than 17,000 district heating systems, up to 28 million geothermal heat pumps, and a, electricity-generating capacity reaching 60 gigawatts are all possible by the year 2050, according to the 2019 GeoVision analysis. According to the Department of Energy, if all sectoral projections are realized, it would reduce emissions by the same amount as removing 26 million cars from US roads each year.