Germany Leading The Way

[Pat Ayres]

Call me thick if you like but if the water comes up under 'natural pressure', what happens when all that pressure is released and the 'natural pressure' decreases?

[Skeddan]

It runs out - a bit like an oil well. How long depends on the size of the aquifer / geothermal reservoir. That sometimes takes about 60 years, but may be longer, so it isn't a true 'renewable'. However in some cases there is sea or spring water going in, getting heated by volcanic fissure etc, and coming out hot - which can continue indefinitely.

 

As I think I noted earlier, geothermal all rather depends on the local geology. You might only have dig a little hole in sand to get hot water seeping up (as at Hot Water Beach), or have to drill 1000m through granite - or there could be no aquifers.

 

(I only happened to find out about this from visiting geothermal places in NZ - till then I didn't have a clue)

[Lonan3]

And Germany performs an embarrassing U-turn on another 'green' measure.

LINK TO STORY

 

The German government has been forced into an embarrassing climbdown over its plans to lead a worldwide biofuels revolution on the roads after the discovery that too many cars would be unable to run on the proposed ethanol-petrol mix.

The environment minister, Sigmar Gabriel, had planned to introduce the new fuel to motorists next year. It is known as E-10, and 90% of it would consist of petrol and the rest of ethanol.

The proposal was seen as central to Germany's ability to achieve its ambitious climate-protection goals under which it wants 20% of all fuel it uses to be made up of biofuels by 2020.

Experts said that target was now likely to be in jeopardy after the country's powerful car lobby headed by the German Automobile Club, the ADAC, and a group representing car importers, said that around 3.7m cars, approximately 200,000 of which are German-made, would not be able to process the mix.

Gabriel said his "pain threshold", that around one million cars might be unable to cope with the new fuel, had been overstepped. He added that he would rather withdraw his "roadmap to biofuels" than "start a long debate" that would create "new uncertainty over possibilities of refitting" older vehicles and delay "deadlines".

[driller]

Interesting geothermal project

 

Agence France Presse reports that two 1,700-metre deep shafts are to be drilled deep under the perimeter of the city’s Orly airport, where water heated by the earth’s core will be drawn upwards by natural pressure. When it reaches the surface, the water, at a temperature of 74oC (165oF), will be injected into the airports heating system.

hi i'm new to all this but it is possible for you to go geothermal in the iom check out www.manxgeothermal.com