Renewable Heating For Glasgow

As you may know, the Industrial Revolution started in Britain. In many ways it's what put the "Great" into Britain during the 19th century. Underpinning it all was the fact that we had huge resources of coal on which our various industries (and rail system) were based.

So the unsung heroes of the Revolution were hundreds of thousands of coal miners, who toiled away in appalling and often dangerous conditions for the benefit of the nation. Without their sacrifices I doubt we'd be the economic power we are now.

A couple of centuries after it all began, the UK has closed most of it's coal mines because they're uneconomical and with them went most of the mining jobs. This had a pretty devastating effect on many of the local communities and, sometimes, they never recovered.

But now it seems, many of the abandoned mines could gain new life and, maybe, give something back to those local communities.....

Glasgow has many such abandoned mines under it, most of which are flooded. This simple fact has an unexpected benefit: The water, cool though it is, has enough heat in it for ground source heat pump technology to provide heating for houses. In fact, it's been doing this for 17 homes in Glasgow for the last decade.

Now Glasgow city council and the British Geological Survey (BGS) have joined forces to find out if this can be extended to more homes. The BGS have been mapping the extent of the mines and believe that it's possible for them to provide up to 40% of the city's heating. Not only that but, during the summer, the heating process can be reversed to provide cooling for buildings like hospitals.

The BGS also say that, with abandoned, flooded mines underlying many towns and cities across Britain, the technology could be rolled out to them as well, cutting heating bills for thousands of people at a time when fuel costs are going out the roof.

Some more background here.