Cosmos
Summary
Recycling mines may help heal the scars of the past and heal our future. Coal mining has played an enormous role in contributing to the challenging climate in which the world now finds itself. But reusing mines may be part of the solution – if they can be turned into giant geothermal heat pumps.
University of Melbourne engineering PhD student Mauricio Carcamo is exploring the energy potential of decommissioned open-cut mines.
The hole has been dug. Remediation efforts are going to take place anyway. But is there economically viable potential to extract an energy advantage out of this process?
“Geothermal reuse of decommissioned mines appears an attractive option,” Carcamo says.
"In general, shallow geothermal systems benefit from high efficiency and low operational cost, but have a high up-front capital cost,” Carcamo says. “If we want to upscale the use of shallow geothermal energy to an entire district with a large source such as the decommissioning of an open pit mine, a District Heating-Cooling System is required.”
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