{"id":71851,"date":"2021-05-27T13:22:19","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T13:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/?p=71851"},"modified":"2024-03-05T09:45:45","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T09:45:45","slug":"could-abandoned-coal-mines-in-glasgow-support-the-uks-net-zero-ambitions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/news\/could-abandoned-coal-mines-in-glasgow-support-the-uks-net-zero-ambitions\/","title":{"rendered":"Could abandoned coal mines in Glasgow support the UK\u2019s net zero ambitions?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Should you take a (virtual) trip upstream of the River Clyde from the location of COP26, at Glasgow\u2019s Scottish Event Campus (SEC), after several large meanders and 8 km you will arrive at the Cuningar Loop Woodland Park.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The park is part of a programme of regeneration in eastern Glasgow and also at the heart of a promising new story to better understand how our industrial heritage could be transformed into a cleaner and more sustainable energy future for UK towns and cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 1850 and 1930 numerous coal mines and other industry dotted this area of Rutherglen and Glasgow city. Today, an underground observatory of boreholes, sensors and monitoring equipment targets those former, flooded coal mines. The mines which once gave birth to an industrial revolution driven by fossil fuels, could now provide access to a low carbon, clean energy heat source in the years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data from this UK Geoenergy Observatory<\/a> will allow us to better understand \u2018mine water geothermal\u2019 energy as a sustainable, low carbon heat source and store. With many homes and business located on coalfields, this technology could provide decarbonised heat for significant number of buildings, as has already been demonstrated at a small number of schemes in England, Wales and Scotland.<\/p>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t

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An overview of a research compound at the Glasgow UK Geoenergy Observatory. \u00a9 <\/em>BAM Nuttall (background); BGS \u00a9 UKRI (labels).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Scientists will use the Glasgow Observatory to better understand the processes and impacts of using warm water from these abandoned mines beneath UK towns and cities to provide a sustainable heat source. Whether supplying to a single building or via a district heating network, each could contribute to reducing CO2<\/sub><\/sup> emissions and meeting net zero targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cost and technical uncertainties remain barriers to the widespread rollout of mine water energy, along with economic, regulatory and awareness challenges. Research on chemical, biological and physical change, reducing risks on finding a sustainable heat resource and how efficiently we can transfer heat energy, for example, will all help overcome the cost and technical challenges. The Observatory is also a place for training and awareness raising for a more sustainable economy, potentially supporting future jobs in decarbonised heat technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a wide range of monitoring, ongoing environmental change and any impacts from heat abstraction or storage can be comprehensively assessed at the observatory. As a flexible, at-scale infrastructure the observatory is a place to test new equipment and techniques for mine water energy schemes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Science Lead for the Glasgow Observatory it has been exciting to see the construction of instrumented boreholes and the growing body of openly available data<\/a> starting to come through.<\/p>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t

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Journey 90 m below the surface of Glasgow, where historic mine workings now support research into sustainable use of mine water for heat and energy storage. BGS \u00a9 UKRI<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

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