Newcastle's bid to harness the natural heat of underground water has reached a significant stage this week. Following four months of drilling on a former brewery site - the same brewery which produced Newcastle's famous Brown Ale - a team from Newcastle University has found water approximately 2,000 metres underground that is naturally warmed to 80 degrees Celsius.
The water discovered through the £1million project, funded by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, Newcastle Science City Partnership and the British Geological Survey, could eventually be pumped from underground and be used to heat buildings in the City, including the proposed "Science City" that will be built on the former brewery site. A second borehole could be drilled in order to provide approximately 11,000 homes with sustainable heating.
Such geothermal energy is sustainable, renewable and, once the drilling has finished, virtually carbon neutral. Despite this, it is a source of renewable energy that is largely unused.
Professor Paul Younger, director of the Newcastle Institute for Research on Sustainability, explained that, "This hot water could be available 24/7 because it doesn't depend on the weather. It is as cheap and as low carbon as it comes".
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