By staff at Plataforma SINC, Spain
OVIEDO, Spain – Mine shafts on the point of being closed down could be used to provide geothermal energy to local towns. This is the conclusion of two engineers from the University of Oviedo, whose research is being published in the journal Renewable Energy. The method they have developed makes it possible to estimate the amount of heat that a tunnel could potentially provide.
Rafael Rodríguez, from the Oviedo Higher Technical School of Mining Engineering, tells SINC: “One way of making use of low-intensity geothermal energy is to convert mine shafts into geothermal boilers, which could provide heating and hot water for people living nearby.”
The engineer and his colleague, María Belarmina Díaz, have developed a “semi-empirical” method (part mathematical and part experimental) to calculate the amount of heat that could be produced by a mine tunnel that is due to be abandoned, based on studies carried out while it is still in use.
Rodríguez and Díaz highlight the benefits of building geothermal boilers in mine shafts in that, aside from their predictable energy production levels, they also function practically as an open tube system “but without any risk of heat contamination of aquifers.”
More at www.plataformasinc.es (Spanish only) and www.uniovi.es
Abandoned mineshafts are an untapped source of heat in Spain
By staff at Plataforma SINC, Spain
OVIEDO, Spain – Mine shafts on the point of being closed down could be used to provide geothermal energy to local towns. This is the conclusion of two engineers from the University of Oviedo, whose research is being published in the journal Renewable Energy. The method they have developed makes it possible to estimate the amount of heat that a tunnel could potentially provide.
Rafael Rodríguez, from the Oviedo Higher Technical School of Mining Engineering, tells SINC: “One way of making use of low-intensity geothermal energy is to convert mine shafts into geothermal boilers, which could provide heating and hot water for people living nearby.”
The engineer and his colleague, María Belarmina Díaz, have developed a “semi-empirical” method (part mathematical and part experimental) to calculate the amount of heat that could be produced by a mine tunnel that is due to be abandoned, based on studies carried out while it is still in use.
Rodríguez and Díaz highlight the benefits of building geothermal boilers in mine shafts in that, aside from their predictable energy production levels, they also function practically as an open tube system “but without any risk of heat contamination of aquifers.”
More at www.plataformasinc.es (Spanish only) and www.uniovi.es