No. Actually this is quite similar planet killing as it was in those good days when the guys were drilling for gas. Let's use heat that we already have in our atmosphere and planet surface - better not to release much more from inside of our planet.
in Italy we have been producing geothermal energy for many many years, Tuscany is leading the way with the historic Larderello plant: Italy has an installed capacity of 1,100 megawatts, producing 6 terawatt hours per year, 5% of the nation’s green energy
Interesting stuff. Never gave it a thought about how the domes were heated, I always thought it was the sun. hah. How naïve was I. Definitely a much needed project for the Eden Project.
I am glad to say that I have been lucky enough to call the Eden Project my work place for nearly 20 years. I am super excited to what the future will bring :-)
@@darrenelkins5923 yep. still time to get rid of the practice of burning it as a fuel though. that doesn't mean we have no more use for the tech. we'll still need to make plastic for some period of time as well.
Very interesting project Robert! Good to see an episode beyond the (fantastic) news about electric vehicles. Thanks and great job as always. Awesome camera work.
EV especially BEV are Dystopian VERY high tech ‘fix’s’, that people unbelievably think are Green because they don’t have exhaust fumes. And don’t consider the massive destruction and toxic pollution, ghg emissions etc caused by the thousands of electronics factories. That supply the multitude of electronic components used in these vehicles. Masses of Copper, Manganese, Lead, Tin, Lithium( Friends of the Earth, FOE, has said ‘’Lithium will amount to an environmental catastrophe in its own right’’ ). Cobalt that is Mined in the Congo by Child Slave labour, also deforesting the Congo, home of the critically endangered Gorilla of which only 900 are left!. Then there is the end of life disposal that is another ewaste timebomb legacy that our children & grandchildren will be have to deal with! Also for every EV a power supply is needed, so delaying the time it takes to be 100% renewable! Time the climate doesn’t have!
Stunning to be involved with this since 2020 - Lithium & GeoThermal Electric from Cornwall are stunning - they have been trying since 1977 ! - I reckon the time has come.
Iv'e always found geothermal potential to be facinating. Wish we'd have started this far sooner that is for certain. Absolutely fantastic show! Thank you for bringing to the masses!
It's been around for decades but because it's 'them' and it's not been popular to talk about 'them' it's not widely known. The Moscow Hydropower Station’s Heating Network (MOGES) was established 90 years ago, on 28 January 1931, bringing the city’s centralised heating system to everyone.
Charged mine last week there on a visit. First come first serve with 3 chargers, lucky we were first there. But it was a big fight for our spot after we left 😂
You would think that every new housing development could share one reasonably sized bore hole for District heating. That with a solar array and GSHP and maybe a battery and every house could be essentially carbon neutral?
And, in addition to carbon neutrality, there's the economic win of no-one ever having to pay a heating bill ever again. My mate moved into a flat in a new apartment building in our town. It had been properly built with all the insulation, solar on the roof of the building that powers an air source heat pump. No-one in the building ever had to pay for heating. Completely free and included. It can be done because, in places, it is being done. And my mate's chief complaint was that, actually, it was too hot. Whatever insulation they used was, arguably, too good. As his problem was always trying to get rid of the heat, never once that it was never warm enough. Note: If you're ever getting a heat exchanger / heat pump make sure that it's reversible. Because, yes, any heat pump / heat exchanger can be rigged up to run in reverse and actually take heat away, and act as air conditioning. And, trust me, you'll want this. It might not strike you as likely, if you're struggling to warm up an old Victorian house in Winter, with high energy bills, that your problem would ever be the opposite - that you're getting more heat than you ever wanted for no cost whatsoever. But, seriously, that's what my mate experienced in a properly constructed modern apartment block, as they'd built it from the ground up with the best insulation and using a solar-powered heat pump (air source rather than ground source, admittedly - but that's the thing, air source is possible anywhere, where ground source might not be easily done). Imagine the economic win of every building in the entire country having free heating. Well, the energy companies would lose out. But, like, the largest part of most people's electricity bills gone in a puff of smoke. Hundreds to thousands of pounds a year put back into everyone's pockets again. Free money for everyone, basically. The technology's already there. Because, as I said, I've seen it in action. A rather large apartment block (there was at least 50 generously-sized flats in the place) where no-one paid for heating - all inclusive - and, truth is, it was too good. The residents complaining that they needed to turn off the heating more often, as it got too hot and never the reverse. And this is without going on to consider ideas like district heating and distribution. So, if that apartment block got too hot, then it could pump the excess heat out to other buildings. And battery storage to do the same thing with any excess solar. My battery's full so, here, have my excess. Put it on the Grid, for someone else to use. We could eliminate anyone ever having to pay for heating ever again. And that is, by the figures, the biggest chunk of what we pay for, that creates the most carbon emissions to satisfy.
Planning permissions would be a nightmare. They all ready are for aesthetic reasons, but it would increase 100 fold, ostensibly for ‘environmental’ reasons. I can imagine locals complaining about noise, fumes and worries about water tables and earthquakes. Britain can’t do anything without 10 + years for lawyers and consultants to get their cut.
@@klaxoncow It's not free it'll be included in whatever the service charges are for the building. The service charges are likely high as well, part of the you will never own anything and be happy mentality. District Heating schemes are well known to have efficiency benefits however the costs generally don't stack up. Properly insulating new builds is a separate matter as is designing to take into account and manage passive solar gain. EcoBling isn't the solution...
"If this works as well as I know it will" I need to start using this one. I know this works and if it does, it could be the surest thing i ever had so much doubt about. Great project! We are hope to dig a slightly smaller though certainly ambitious geothermal system for our new home.
I've always wanted to visit, but when I do so in the future the Eden project I believe, will be running on energy from the Earths heat and it will make my visit even more enjoyable.
Fascinating topic. Couldn't help noticing that Robert was positively glowing with excitement - that he's (finally) been allowed out out of the pony paddock (aka his back garden) into the big wide world...😜😁😋 Gallop on Robert!
I visited the other week and loved seeing the little models of the Edens of the world! Cornwall is a worldleader in technology and energy resources!!!!
Lots of Ex Oil Industry People are leaping across to Geothermal (there are a few version of it) mainly because of its value, environmental sustainability and cross skill ease. This video touches on just the tip of geothermal potential.
The Eden Project is an ideal testbed for being powered and heated by geothermal energy in the UK. Iceland have been using geothermal energy for 'eons' and get on with it very well. Thanks for another very interesting film. It's a shame we don't get programmes about this sort of thing on the main media channels.
Beautifully made report as always. Cornwall started in the Hot Rocks project in the 70s and 80s back when I was growing up there. But at that time the technology for drilling and heat transfer was not where we are today. Looks like Fracking drilling tech is helping in the same way the tragedy of wars advanced medical technology. Looking forward it is good to see that Cornwall can once again contribute / like the lithium article you made recently.
Batteries will replace baseload eventually. It could actually happen a lot faster than people think. Hornsdale in Australia is just one of 50 battery installations now that are already bankrupting peakers etc. And baseload eventually as the infrastructure continues to grow and become cheaper.
@@simonhenry7867 Its the same story everywhere they are being deployed. They are cheaper to operate than peakers and frequency moderating assets. All of which have high marginal costs where as batteries are near zero marginal cost.
You're right and with things like ambrí battery, water or heated sand as is being tested in Finland. This is a real scam to rescue oil industry. With public funding.
I think baseload will always make sense to some extent. If something is constantly using power, why create energy, transfer it to battery, then transfer it to the constant power use. I think it makes sense to get a baseload that handles the constant power use and then even separate it from the grid. Battery storage works best flattening out a peaky usage and/or supply.
@@trevorWilkinson Our current arrangement is inefficient because it does not have storage. You only need 4-5 hours of storage in any grid to displace 80% of the generational assets. And we receive more energy from the sun in a single hour on this planet than our civilization uses from all other sources combined. Including fossil fuels, each year. Its a stupidly small fraction of a percentage that we need to capture and store to meet our daily needs. The current grid needs base load because it is a centralized system. The new grid infrastructure is distributed with millions of contributors. Solar and wind are distributed energies. In the next ten years we are going to hit what is known as "God Parity". That is the point where it is cheaper for the consumer of power to be energy self sufficient, than what it costs the utilities to deliver the power, before the marginal costs of generation are added to the bill. We are already way past grid parity today.
except there is no pumping of heat, just pumping of hot water. which is a different thing. in effect this is the reverse of a heat pump, you dont use the pump to move the heat, you use the heat to move the pump.
@@mralistair737 no its not a reverse heatpump, that is to far off the principle. It will be used to heat up water* to steam that turns a suited turbine, goes trough a condenser and loops. *secondary loop with water.
@@ferkeap a liquid that is hot and under pressure, then released to generate movement and cool. is the reverse of one that takes low pressure cold gas and through movement turns it into hot high-pressure liquid. Seems exactly the reverse. I don't mean "a heat pump running in reverse" I mean it's "using the movement of heat to generate mechanical movement" perhaps it's a banal observation
Fantastic!! There are two significant geothermal projects in addition to Cornish Lithium which also recently featured in Cornwall. So amazing to see it all finally happening after reading about it being a ‘potential’ for almost 15 years but struggling to get funding…note the funding came from EDRF. UK Govt now need to step up!
I've never really understood that - but it doesn't really matter because the Google-UA-cam algorithm treats them just the same - 'positive' or 'negative' both generate advertising revenue whether you love or hate the content. The more controversy, the better - more views, more involvement of us, the viewers.
Fantastic stuff. I love that you take a broader view at the energy sector not just EVs. Any chance you could do a special with good people of Riversimple in Wales and deep dive into H2's future?
The other benefit is that once you have used the high and medium pressure steam to drive turbines you are left with loads of free hot water. We should follow the iceland model and distribute this to houses to reduce their need to use gas boilers for hot water.
The first time I went to the Eden Project was 2014, I saw a Tesla Model S in the flesh for the first time, they had one on display. As I left and got to the carpark, an Avro Vulcan flew over with four massive plumes of black smoke coming out the back - quite the juxtaposition.
If there are no inter-connecting pipes or the pump in pressure is high .... it's Fracking. What is the working fluid? Is it fresh water? How much water? Is the water recycled?. How much energy do all the pumps use? 4 or 5 megawatt can be done with one semi-large wind turbine. Tons of questions here about costs and long term heat availability in the area being worked.
Was wondering if this would have the same issues as fracking. Would like to see that question answered, otherwise would love to see more geothermal plants all over!
@@timj11dude They mentioned that it doesn't use high-pressure water so it is not trying to break and crack open spaces underground. Think of it like water cooling the earth. There is a water which is passed through a loop which gets heated, the longer that water spends down there in the fissures the more heat the water can absorb. Before returning to the surface where we extract the heat and the loops starts again using the same water/fluid. The most damage is done by the drilling itself. It might not create the most energy and they did say it was a bit of a test project. They could probably get more power by having a bigger gradient between the hot entry and the exit. Perhaps also by drilling deeper and also my increasing flow rate of the water/fluid. But as they mentioned it's not to compete with wind or solar, it's to work along-side and be a base-line which won't fluctuate depending on the weather.
frackin is using pressure to fracture the rock, they are not trying to fracture the rock, they are using existing fractures, the liquid going in (presumably water) will very likely be at a similar pressure to what's down there, the main pumping pressure will likely be generated by the water heating/boiling. it's probably / possibel that its a closed loop and that what comes up goes back down, and it just goes through a heat exchanger at the top.
Bobby, Bobby, Bobby. You were on my manor and didn't even drop in for some (Tregothnan Cornish) Tea. Tut. We live just less than a mile from Eden and sometimes even walk there so have been following the drilling with some interest. Tim Smit is the one and only visionary in Cornwall, but what a visionary. Without him, this area would be lacking so much.
This is *so* awesome. I do wonder though if a closed loop system like that proposed by Eavor would work better/be more efficient? Would love to see a video on what they’re up to as well.
It’s got to be the future. Enjoyed the episode. I’m in NE Scotland. With so many people working in oil and gas, surely this has to be where their skill set is going to be best used. It’ll be like when the Americans came over in the early 70s and shared their knowledge of drilling. We can do the same now.
During the introduction Robert's energy is incredible as he become energetic by visiting the Eden Project, I am thinking learning from Eden project will help not only here on Earth but also in Mars.
Fantastic about time something like this happened to the UK, I remember Iceland uses geothermal for years now, glad this country is waking up this kind of thing.
Total carbon audit would be interesting to see:- how much CO2 is emitted digging the hole and creating the machinery that digs the hole, and then how long is the installation expected to become carbon neutral?
lots of comments asking how this process differs from fracking. u spoke about it a bit at 16min but maybe a followup vid to differentiate between this and fracking? great vid!
Fascinating! Cards on the table... I know very little about this subject so have plenty of (probably) stupid questions which I won't post here, but will try to find answers to. There must be a downside, right?
I would have liked to have found out more about output capacity, and economics of the project; how many homes can it power? whats are the costs compared to other renewable sources? etc. Also, at 14:28 when Robert asks about why that place is hotter than other places, the guy doesn't really answer the question, instead he gives a brief explanation about where geothermal heat comes from in general, which is not what Robert asked.
Yes lots of gaps in the whole presentation. Greenhouse gas emissions, non sustainable (the bore cools down). Consider the rock is in equilibrium now, then we cool it to extract energy the heat does not rush in, rock is a good insulator. Otherwise we would burn our feet just walking on the ground!😁
@@kimollivier interesting... and if the rocks cool down I guess that would lead to shrinkage, which might have side effects on the landscape? No doubt they have accounted for these things, but it would have been nice to hear more information about that stuff
Great to learn about this brilliant project. With more forward thinking of this nature maybe there is still hope for the planet. Good too see a different area of Fully Charged. Really enjoying the show keep up the great and interesting work.
A rather obvious question surely must be: Couldn’t formerly producing oil and gas wells, currently pegged for abandonment, have their “pay zones” isolated and be retrofitted for geothermal production?🤔
Living in Iceland, geothermal covers abou 60% of our energy needs. Mostly for heating. Space heating is done for over 90% with geothermal energy. Part of the electrical geothermal plants do hot water with the residual energy after the turbines. It is crazy how slow energy production from geothermal energy is growing in the world. The potential is there to satisfy all the energy needs in the world. 20% in the UK is lowballing it.
Wonderful episode. Quite uplifting in seeing the very technology that brought us the oil/gas burning era being put to great use in a much better way. That put a charge in me [sorry, couldn't resist].
I remember talking with a geology graduate back in the mid 90s about the geothermal potential of the English SW. why has it taken 25 years. I now live in NZ where about 20% of the country’s energy requirement is geothermally produced…about 7500 GWh per annum. On another tack, I also worked in the oil exploration industry and I have never seen such slow drill pipe insertion. Was this just for your cameras?
They tried this in my home town Southampton as the first ever uk site before I was born. It’s literally in the centre of town in between the shopping centre. Still going today. Not quite the temp of this Eden project one.
Only just visited the Eden project a few days ago and saw the drilling rig too. Charged my Tesla whilst we walked around. Exciting to think it could be all carbon negative next time I visit.
Now that's called informative video about one of the renewable energy sources other than solar and wind. Whole year videos just about EVs & EVs was making it lil boring but such videos I like to watch. Lithium extraction was great video too. Now I want to see a video about technical updates in PAVEGEN & is it possible to increase it's output to MWs :). Keep it up.
@@dougowt I don't think that disproves the sentiment. If this is just a one off, then this is just another hype cycle that hasn't gone anywhere. Wave power have been pushed at various times over the past 50 years. as far as im aware theres still no grid connected producers, so despite there being demo projects being built, it isn't the energy source of the next decade.
@@benholroyd5221 I’d say we are very close to getting grid connected wave power. Part of the problem has always been the cost of subsidised fossil fuels. But renewables are becoming the cheapest option. And we would have had tidal projects under way, if they had not been deliberately delayed. Times are changing and changing quite quickly.
@@dougowt changing in what way? most technologies that actually work never get past the 'too expensive for x reason' There have been a few demo projects for tidal recently, and they haven't generated as much energy as expected. and even if they do fix that, which isn't guaranteed, you have an almighty slog to get from there to price competitive technology. Wind and solar have been around for decades, theyve only just got to the point of cost competitiveness.
If you pump down cold water and pull out heat, how long can you remove heat from the ground before the process doesn't work any more? Because effectively you are cooling down the rocks. I suppose my question is how much thermal mass is down there to extract?
Hands up if you’ve ever driven over 200 miles to Cornwall in a fossil fuel powered vehicle to visit the Eden project. 🙌 🙌 🙌 I’m on holiday in the south west right now, and yes I drove here (in a hire car). (But at least I’m car free for most of the rest of the year - have been since 2009) Still so much more to be done though both at home, on holiday and on the larger economic scale - this kind of stuff gives me hope.
I guess if they are not fracking it means that they are relying on the fault being porous enough. They won't know that for certain until they get to depth. However this is a great repurposing of the drilling industry that I am in and a truly exciting step in the right direction.
I love Robert's enthusiasm, but I am unpersuaded. On average heat flow from the centre of the Earth across the UK Is 0.038 watts per square metre. On average (night and day) average solar power is about 240 watts per square metre. So to extract heat sustainably one needs to extract heat from a VERY large area of rock. Otherwise one simply cools down the rock over a few years. This may make sense, I don't know all the numbers, but this video makes me think that solar power with big batteries is probably a better bet at the moment. But good luck to them.
I would have liked it if they addressed whether or not the heat sources in these wells will fade over time. You'd think they'd at least reach some kind of equilibrium that's at a (possibly substantially) lower temperature compared to when you just started exploiting it.
@@michael-vl1mn That heat is produced much further down though, once the local heat has soaked out of the area you drilled, it will usually only warm up again at a relatively slow pace that might not match with commercial exploitation.
The energy generation is obviously great, but the provision of community heating is the only way to fully realise the benefits of such installation. From fossil fuel plant burn to plug, you lose about 80% of the energy, with a significant amount of UK homes actually heated by gas.
Several decades ago, I recall reading about Californian geothermal operations having a problem with their pipes and equipment getting clogged up from the dissolved minerals. It sure sounds like the water in the kind of loop described here is heading for the same kind of problems, becoming increasingly laden with various minerals..
I remember there was an experimental geothermal borehole project in Cornwall in the 1980s which failed due to minerals crystallising and blocking up the joints through the water was flowing. What has changed since then? I imagine the development of deviated drilling has made the process much more thermally efficient, but that still doesn't account for the geochemical problem.
Part of Newcastle University Science area that has been built this last 5 years or so is run fully or not far off geothermal energy from a hole they dug a while back tapping in to that Northern section on the map you showed.
Could this be the start of a new energy revolution? Tell us what you think...
No. Actually this is quite similar planet killing as it was in those good days when the guys were drilling for gas.
Let's use heat that we already have in our atmosphere and planet surface - better not to release much more from inside of our planet.
With the right support, it could be!
Ask Iceland.... and numerous sites around the world....
Geothermal should definitely be one of our solutions for energy independence
@@vladt4010 fossil fuel CO2 omissions are much higher than geothermal
in Italy we have been producing geothermal energy for many many years, Tuscany is leading the way with the historic Larderello plant: Italy has an installed capacity of 1,100 megawatts, producing 6 terawatt hours per year, 5% of the nation’s green energy
Good for you.
Moar!
Maybe only Blue energy. How much CO2 is vented to the air per KWh?
@@kimollivier you seem to misunderstand how geothermal power plants work. There is no CO2 generated by the plant
You could get some serious geothermal around Mount Etna!
Great project please do regular updates
YES good idea, James. I'm interested in updates, too!
Yes please!
Interesting stuff. Never gave it a thought about how the domes were heated, I always thought it was the sun. hah. How naïve was I. Definitely a much needed project for the Eden Project.
I am glad to say that I have been lucky enough to call the Eden Project my work place for nearly 20 years. I am super excited to what the future will bring :-)
Do you still have lots of plastic water bottles instead of glass refills?
Bobby Llewellynn is definitely my favourite Fully Charged presenter! Great project, great video.
Isn't he lovely :)
Hell project
@Tristram Sidey maybe viewers declined
the only interesting presenter to watch
@Tristram Sidey The wonderful Maddie Moate was announced as a definite presenter a week or so back - have a look at recent videos for your answer
At last a new and ethical use for oil and gas drilling technology.
Well I mean geothermal is not exactly *new*. But it's still cool! Or hot if you go deep enough lol.
and yet, none of this would be possible without oil and gas
900 pounds of ethane per turbine blade, medical plastics and asphalt all seem ethical
Floating wind turbine platforms are also an adaptation of engineering techniques used by oil companies.
@@darrenelkins5923 yep. still time to get rid of the practice of burning it as a fuel though. that doesn't mean we have no more use for the tech. we'll still need to make plastic for some period of time as well.
Very interesting project Robert! Good to see an episode beyond the (fantastic) news about electric vehicles. Thanks and great job as always. Awesome camera work.
Glad you enjoyed it
A superb episode! Thank you for all your work. P.s. The water pool shot at 15:54 was out of focus which made for a dizzying pan
Hear, hear!
EV especially BEV are Dystopian VERY high tech ‘fix’s’, that people unbelievably think are Green because they don’t have exhaust fumes. And don’t consider the massive destruction and toxic pollution, ghg emissions etc caused by the thousands of electronics factories. That supply the multitude of electronic components used in these vehicles. Masses of Copper, Manganese, Lead, Tin, Lithium( Friends of the Earth, FOE, has said ‘’Lithium will amount to an environmental catastrophe in its own right’’ ). Cobalt that is Mined in the Congo by Child Slave labour, also deforesting the Congo, home of the critically endangered Gorilla of which only 900 are left!. Then there is the end of life disposal that is another ewaste timebomb legacy that our children & grandchildren will be have to deal with! Also for every EV a power supply is needed, so delaying the time it takes to be 100% renewable! Time the climate doesn’t have!
I have to say that this is one of the best episodes I have seen for ages. Keep it up.
I’ve been looking forward to a video on this project, thanks for doing it!!!
Hope you enjoyed it!
This is one place I want to visit when the coast is clear... !
It's soo fake. Not sure how they power the card machines/cash registers but they're in constant use
Stunning to be involved with this since 2020 - Lithium & GeoThermal Electric from Cornwall are stunning - they have been trying since 1977 ! - I reckon the time has come.
The quality of Fully Charged videos never fail to amaze me.
Iv'e always found geothermal potential to be facinating. Wish we'd have started this far sooner that is for certain. Absolutely fantastic show! Thank you for bringing to the masses!
It's been around for decades but because it's 'them' and it's not been popular to talk about 'them' it's not widely known. The Moscow Hydropower Station’s Heating Network (MOGES) was established 90 years ago, on 28 January 1931, bringing the city’s centralised heating system to everyone.
This is so exciting. I hope i'm around to see it progress and prosper. Thank you Robert, best wishes
Very good. Just wish Eden would install far more EV chargers!
Charged mine last week there on a visit. First come first serve with 3 chargers, lucky we were first there. But it was a big fight for our spot after we left 😂
Robert brilliant as always. Thank you.
So enjoying these beautiful videos.
How absolutely fascinating this is.
Glad you like them!
In 1969 I worked for ECLP before going to university and this site was still a clay pit, a lovely transformation.
You would think that every new housing development could share one reasonably sized bore hole for District heating. That with a solar array and GSHP and maybe a battery and every house could be essentially carbon neutral?
And, in addition to carbon neutrality, there's the economic win of no-one ever having to pay a heating bill ever again.
My mate moved into a flat in a new apartment building in our town. It had been properly built with all the insulation, solar on the roof of the building that powers an air source heat pump. No-one in the building ever had to pay for heating. Completely free and included.
It can be done because, in places, it is being done. And my mate's chief complaint was that, actually, it was too hot. Whatever insulation they used was, arguably, too good. As his problem was always trying to get rid of the heat, never once that it was never warm enough.
Note: If you're ever getting a heat exchanger / heat pump make sure that it's reversible. Because, yes, any heat pump / heat exchanger can be rigged up to run in reverse and actually take heat away, and act as air conditioning. And, trust me, you'll want this. It might not strike you as likely, if you're struggling to warm up an old Victorian house in Winter, with high energy bills, that your problem would ever be the opposite - that you're getting more heat than you ever wanted for no cost whatsoever. But, seriously, that's what my mate experienced in a properly constructed modern apartment block, as they'd built it from the ground up with the best insulation and using a solar-powered heat pump (air source rather than ground source, admittedly - but that's the thing, air source is possible anywhere, where ground source might not be easily done).
Imagine the economic win of every building in the entire country having free heating. Well, the energy companies would lose out. But, like, the largest part of most people's electricity bills gone in a puff of smoke. Hundreds to thousands of pounds a year put back into everyone's pockets again. Free money for everyone, basically.
The technology's already there. Because, as I said, I've seen it in action. A rather large apartment block (there was at least 50 generously-sized flats in the place) where no-one paid for heating - all inclusive - and, truth is, it was too good. The residents complaining that they needed to turn off the heating more often, as it got too hot and never the reverse.
And this is without going on to consider ideas like district heating and distribution. So, if that apartment block got too hot, then it could pump the excess heat out to other buildings. And battery storage to do the same thing with any excess solar. My battery's full so, here, have my excess. Put it on the Grid, for someone else to use.
We could eliminate anyone ever having to pay for heating ever again. And that is, by the figures, the biggest chunk of what we pay for, that creates the most carbon emissions to satisfy.
Planning permissions would be a nightmare.
They all ready are for aesthetic reasons, but it would increase 100 fold, ostensibly for ‘environmental’ reasons. I can imagine locals complaining about noise, fumes and worries about water tables and earthquakes.
Britain can’t do anything without 10 + years for lawyers and consultants to get their cut.
@@klaxoncow It's not free it'll be included in whatever the service charges are for the building. The service charges are likely high as well, part of the you will never own anything and be happy mentality. District Heating schemes are well known to have efficiency benefits however the costs generally don't stack up.
Properly insulating new builds is a separate matter as is designing to take into account and manage passive solar gain. EcoBling isn't the solution...
Not carbon neutral, lots of gas comes up with the hot water. Oops nobody mentioned that....
@@klaxoncow This post needs to be a Fully Charged episode all on its own
It's just so so obvious now! Great video.
I'd heard about this, great to see how they are getting on. Couldn't help noticing Rob's comment at the end 'well developed industry', very good :D
Great episode. Please keep us updated on progress.
Thank you Robert! Keep up the good work.
It's nice to see the project finally starting fingers crossed.
"If this works as well as I know it will" I need to start using this one. I know this works and if it does, it could be the surest thing i ever had so much doubt about.
Great project! We are hope to dig a slightly smaller though certainly ambitious geothermal system for our new home.
These videos sets you apart from most EV news youtube channels. I love that you can do these ground reporting about the renewable energy. 👍
very diverse and interesting topics
Never was pure EV, just electric non-fossil.
I think this much more important to know then EV's are.
I've always wanted to visit, but when I do so in the future the Eden project I believe, will be running on energy from the Earths heat and it will make my visit even more enjoyable.
Tens of thousands of homes in Britain are way greener than hell project.
Fascinating topic. Couldn't help noticing that Robert was positively glowing with excitement - that he's (finally) been allowed out out of the pony paddock (aka his back garden) into the big wide world...😜😁😋 Gallop on Robert!
What a wonderful great educational, inspirational episode guys!! Well done and I hope we get more to see about heating, and other renewable solutions
I visited the other week and loved seeing the little models of the Edens of the world!
Cornwall is a worldleader in technology and energy resources!!!!
Thats awesome. Love the eden project. And that is hella cool. Can't wait to see it in action
Here in the island of São Miguel, Azores, we have 2 Geothermal sites working since the late 80's. Around 41,5% of our energy comes from these 2 sites.
Lots of Ex Oil Industry People are leaping across to Geothermal (there are a few version of it) mainly because of its value, environmental sustainability and cross skill ease. This video touches on just the tip of geothermal potential.
The Eden Project is an ideal testbed for being powered and heated by geothermal energy in the UK. Iceland have been using geothermal energy for 'eons' and get on with it very well. Thanks for another very interesting film. It's a shame we don't get programmes about this sort of thing on the main media channels.
Wow. Exciting project. Great video. Thanks Fully Charged
I've seen enough Doctor Who to know that this is going to end up with an invasion by Silurians!
Today, you win the internet :D
It's already happened
@@appkazoo8802 true our Government are very poorly disguised Silurians when you think about it.
No; they're Slitheen. Check the episode!
@@locknut5382 Okay,I did, and they were Silurian.
Beautifully made report as always. Cornwall started in the Hot Rocks project in the 70s and 80s back when I was growing up there. But at that time the technology for drilling and heat transfer was not where we are today. Looks like Fracking drilling tech is helping in the same way the tragedy of wars advanced medical technology. Looking forward it is good to see that Cornwall can once again contribute / like the lithium article you made recently.
Batteries will replace baseload eventually. It could actually happen a lot faster than people think. Hornsdale in Australia is just one of 50 battery installations now that are already bankrupting peakers etc. And baseload eventually as the infrastructure continues to grow and become cheaper.
Hornesdale is only profitable becuase Oz has an utter fail off an electric market.
@@simonhenry7867 Its the same story everywhere they are being deployed. They are cheaper to operate than peakers and frequency moderating assets. All of which have high marginal costs where as batteries are near zero marginal cost.
You're right and with things like ambrí battery, water or heated sand as is being tested in Finland.
This is a real scam to rescue oil industry. With public funding.
I think baseload will always make sense to some extent. If something is constantly using power, why create energy, transfer it to battery, then transfer it to the constant power use. I think it makes sense to get a baseload that handles the constant power use and then even separate it from the grid.
Battery storage works best flattening out a peaky usage and/or supply.
@@trevorWilkinson Our current arrangement is inefficient because it does not have storage. You only need 4-5 hours of storage in any grid to displace 80% of the generational assets. And we receive more energy from the sun in a single hour on this planet than our civilization uses from all other sources combined. Including fossil fuels, each year. Its a stupidly small fraction of a percentage that we need to capture and store to meet our daily needs. The current grid needs base load because it is a centralized system. The new grid infrastructure is distributed with millions of contributors. Solar and wind are distributed energies.
In the next ten years we are going to hit what is known as "God Parity". That is the point where it is cheaper for the consumer of power to be energy self sufficient, than what it costs the utilities to deliver the power, before the marginal costs of generation are added to the bill. We are already way past grid parity today.
We’ve been to the Eden project twice amazing place this is a brilliant project there’s one of these in Southampton been used for years 👍
Actual geo-thermal, and not just mis-described GSHP.
except there is no pumping of heat, just pumping of hot water. which is a different thing. in effect this is the reverse of a heat pump, you dont use the pump to move the heat, you use the heat to move the pump.
@@mralistair737 no its not a reverse heatpump, that is to far off the principle.
It will be used to heat up water* to steam that turns a suited turbine, goes trough a condenser and loops.
*secondary loop with water.
@@ferkeap a liquid that is hot and under pressure, then released to generate movement and cool. is the reverse of one that takes low pressure cold gas and through movement turns it into hot high-pressure liquid. Seems exactly the reverse. I don't mean "a heat pump running in reverse" I mean it's "using the movement of heat to generate mechanical movement" perhaps it's a banal observation
Southampton has had an operational Geothermal plant since 1986.
This is fantastic, really appreciate the upload, thanks chaps
It’s coming home , it’s coming home, steam power’s coming home 😉
Fantastic!! There are two significant geothermal projects in addition to Cornish Lithium which also recently featured in Cornwall. So amazing to see it all finally happening after reading about it being a ‘potential’ for almost 15 years but struggling to get funding…note the funding came from EDRF. UK Govt now need to step up!
I always wonder who is putting thumbs down on these videos. People who just hate progress.
Oil workers
I've never really understood that - but it doesn't really matter because the Google-UA-cam algorithm treats them just the same - 'positive' or 'negative' both generate advertising revenue whether you love or hate the content. The more controversy, the better - more views, more involvement of us, the viewers.
Absolutely wonderful to see these rays of hope among all the environmental doom and gloom.
Excellent info. well presented. Thank you. Regards AJ
Fantastic stuff. I love that you take a broader view at the energy sector not just EVs. Any chance you could do a special with good people of Riversimple in Wales and deep dive into H2's future?
The other benefit is that once you have used the high and medium pressure steam to drive turbines you are left with loads of free hot water. We should follow the iceland model and distribute this to houses to reduce their need to use gas boilers for hot water.
The first time I went to the Eden Project was 2014, I saw a Tesla Model S in the flesh for the first time, they had one on display. As I left and got to the carpark, an Avro Vulcan flew over with four massive plumes of black smoke coming out the back - quite the juxtaposition.
Fascinating discussion. Great topic. Thanks
If there are no inter-connecting pipes or the pump in pressure is high .... it's Fracking. What is the working fluid? Is it fresh water? How much water? Is the water recycled?. How much energy do all the pumps use? 4 or 5 megawatt can be done with one semi-large wind turbine. Tons of questions here about costs and long term heat availability in the area being worked.
Was wondering if this would have the same issues as fracking. Would like to see that question answered, otherwise would love to see more geothermal plants all over!
@@timj11dude They mentioned that it doesn't use high-pressure water so it is not trying to break and crack open spaces underground. Think of it like water cooling the earth. There is a water which is passed through a loop which gets heated, the longer that water spends down there in the fissures the more heat the water can absorb. Before returning to the surface where we extract the heat and the loops starts again using the same water/fluid. The most damage is done by the drilling itself.
It might not create the most energy and they did say it was a bit of a test project. They could probably get more power by having a bigger gradient between the hot entry and the exit. Perhaps also by drilling deeper and also my increasing flow rate of the water/fluid. But as they mentioned it's not to compete with wind or solar, it's to work along-side and be a base-line which won't fluctuate depending on the weather.
frackin is using pressure to fracture the rock, they are not trying to fracture the rock, they are using existing fractures, the liquid going in (presumably water) will very likely be at a similar pressure to what's down there, the main pumping pressure will likely be generated by the water heating/boiling. it's probably / possibel that its a closed loop and that what comes up goes back down, and it just goes through a heat exchanger at the top.
also fracking doesn't usually happen in 4km of granite, it's normaly in lighter shallower sedimentary rock. and over a much larger area.
Bobby, Bobby, Bobby. You were on my manor and didn't even drop in for some (Tregothnan Cornish) Tea. Tut. We live just less than a mile from Eden and sometimes even walk there so have been following the drilling with some interest. Tim Smit is the one and only visionary in Cornwall, but what a visionary. Without him, this area would be lacking so much.
This is *so* awesome. I do wonder though if a closed loop system like that proposed by Eavor would work better/be more efficient? Would love to see a video on what they’re up to as well.
Amazing to think of a distance of 4KM but it is such a great idea especially to be carbon negative, good luck to all involved.
Brilliant episode. Inspirational.
It’s got to be the future. Enjoyed the episode. I’m in NE Scotland. With so many people working in oil and gas, surely this has to be where their skill set is going to be best used. It’ll be like when the Americans came over in the early 70s and shared their knowledge of drilling. We can do the same now.
During the introduction Robert's energy is incredible as he become energetic by visiting the Eden Project, I am thinking learning from Eden project will help not only here on Earth but also in Mars.
Fantastic about time something like this happened to the UK, I remember Iceland uses geothermal for years now, glad this country is waking up this kind of thing.
Very interesting! And top notch production quality!
Total carbon audit would be interesting to see:- how much CO2 is emitted digging the hole and creating the machinery that digs the hole, and then how long is the installation expected to become carbon neutral?
That's only reasonable to ask if nuclear/oil/gas/coal/wood/bio fuels etc supply the same info, otherwise it is irrelevant
Truly Fascinating !
Right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right.
lots of comments asking how this process differs from fracking. u spoke about it a bit at 16min but maybe a followup vid to differentiate between this and fracking? great vid!
Real positive change and innovation is the best videos. XYZ is coming in 20XX is good but seeing it in reality is far better. Thanks FC'd team.
This is so exciting that more of this tech is being used and installed.
Fascinating! Cards on the table... I know very little about this subject so have plenty of (probably) stupid questions which I won't post here, but will try to find answers to. There must be a downside, right?
I would have liked to have found out more about output capacity, and economics of the project; how many homes can it power? whats are the costs compared to other renewable sources? etc.
Also, at 14:28 when Robert asks about why that place is hotter than other places, the guy doesn't really answer the question, instead he gives a brief explanation about where geothermal heat comes from in general, which is not what Robert asked.
Yes lots of gaps in the whole presentation. Greenhouse gas emissions, non sustainable (the bore cools down). Consider the rock is in equilibrium now, then we cool it to extract energy the heat does not rush in, rock is a good insulator. Otherwise we would burn our feet just walking on the ground!😁
@@kimollivier interesting... and if the rocks cool down I guess that would lead to shrinkage, which might have side effects on the landscape? No doubt they have accounted for these things, but it would have been nice to hear more information about that stuff
Brilliant, said for years that GTE was there for the taking. Come on universities! use those geologists and find a site for every city!
Well developed industry 😂👏
Exciting stuff, great to see it also offers an application for all the kit and personnel soon to be looking for work
Great to learn about this brilliant project. With more forward thinking of this nature maybe there is still hope for the planet. Good too see a different area of Fully Charged. Really enjoying the show keep up the great and interesting work.
Very cool use of old tech ideas in a great new way.
Also interested in GA Drilling's Plasmabit and Quaise Energy new drilling techniques.
A rather obvious question surely must be: Couldn’t formerly producing oil and gas wells, currently pegged for abandonment, have their “pay zones” isolated and be retrofitted for geothermal production?🤔
Living in Iceland, geothermal covers abou 60% of our energy needs. Mostly for heating. Space heating is done for over 90% with geothermal energy. Part of the electrical geothermal plants do hot water with the residual energy after the turbines.
It is crazy how slow energy production from geothermal energy is growing in the world.
The potential is there to satisfy all the energy needs in the world.
20% in the UK is lowballing it.
Wonderful episode. Quite uplifting in seeing the very technology that brought us the oil/gas burning era being put to great use in a much better way. That put a charge in me [sorry, couldn't resist].
I remember talking with a geology graduate back in the mid 90s about the geothermal potential of the English SW. why has it taken 25 years. I now live in NZ where about 20% of the country’s energy requirement is geothermally produced…about 7500 GWh per annum.
On another tack, I also worked in the oil exploration industry and I have never seen such slow drill pipe insertion. Was this just for your cameras?
They tried this in my home town Southampton as the first ever uk site before I was born. It’s literally in the centre of town in between the shopping centre. Still going today. Not quite the temp of this Eden project one.
Only just visited the Eden project a few days ago and saw the drilling rig too. Charged my Tesla whilst we walked around. Exciting to think it could be all carbon negative next time I visit.
Bet they stop drilling when they hear the screams.... 😁 Seriously brilliant project hope everything goes as planned and we see more of this.
They'll send the Doom Guy to take care of it.
Now that's called informative video about one of the renewable energy sources other than solar and wind. Whole year videos just about EVs & EVs was making it lil boring but such videos I like to watch. Lithium extraction was great video too. Now I want to see a video about technical updates in PAVEGEN & is it possible to increase it's output to MWs :). Keep it up.
I really want this to work. But I'm reminded that they were talking about geothermal wells when I moved to the westcountry. That was 39 years ago.
Negativity is baad, dude......!
These guys aren't talking about it, they are half way through the first drilling
@@dougowt I don't think that disproves the sentiment. If this is just a one off, then this is just another hype cycle that hasn't gone anywhere.
Wave power have been pushed at various times over the past 50 years. as far as im aware theres still no grid connected producers, so despite there being demo projects being built, it isn't the energy source of the next decade.
@@benholroyd5221 I’d say we are very close to getting grid connected wave power. Part of the problem has always been the cost of subsidised fossil fuels. But renewables are becoming the cheapest option. And we would have had tidal projects under way, if they had not been deliberately delayed. Times are changing and changing quite quickly.
@@dougowt changing in what way? most technologies that actually work never get past the 'too expensive for x reason'
There have been a few demo projects for tidal recently, and they haven't generated as much energy as expected. and even if they do fix that, which isn't guaranteed, you have an almighty slog to get from there to price competitive technology.
Wind and solar have been around for decades, theyve only just got to the point of cost competitiveness.
A football field is a good visual for 100 meters. So they are going down 46 football fields down, mostly into granite rock. Crazy!
THE GREAT CROSSCOURSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Will the water be radioactive then if it's radioactivity that's generating the heat.
If you pump down cold water and pull out heat, how long can you remove heat from the ground before the process doesn't work any more? Because effectively you are cooling down the rocks. I suppose my question is how much thermal mass is down there to extract?
Hands up if you’ve ever driven over 200 miles to Cornwall in a fossil fuel powered vehicle to visit the Eden project. 🙌 🙌 🙌 I’m on holiday in the south west right now, and yes I drove here (in a hire car). (But at least I’m car free for most of the rest of the year - have been since 2009) Still so much more to be done though both at home, on holiday and on the larger economic scale - this kind of stuff gives me hope.
Huge capital investment but once it's done? Boom!
I guess if they are not fracking it means that they are relying on the fault being porous enough. They won't know that for certain until they get to depth. However this is a great repurposing of the drilling industry that I am in and a truly exciting step in the right direction.
Staggering amount of gas used for the "Tropical Sphere". Was not eco minded in its inception but hats off to Tim Smit to help find a solution!
Subscribed and notifications on!
I love Robert's enthusiasm, but I am unpersuaded. On average heat flow from the centre of the Earth across the UK Is 0.038 watts per square metre. On average (night and day) average solar power is about 240 watts per square metre. So to extract heat sustainably one needs to extract heat from a VERY large area of rock. Otherwise one simply cools down the rock over a few years. This may make sense, I don't know all the numbers, but this video makes me think that solar power with big batteries is probably a better bet at the moment. But good luck to them.
Best non car video yet - wow, wow, wow.
Matlock in Derbyshire has hot water springs. It would be a synch to put in Geothermal there.
I would have liked it if they addressed whether or not the heat sources in these wells will fade over time. You'd think they'd at least reach some kind of equilibrium that's at a (possibly substantially) lower temperature compared to when you just started exploiting it.
The Earth is an extremely large natural nuclear fission reactor, there is enough nuclear material(fuel) for plus 1 million years.
@@michael-vl1mn That heat is produced much further down though, once the local heat has soaked out of the area you drilled, it will usually only warm up again at a relatively slow pace that might not match with commercial exploitation.
it will be a gamechanger when plasma drilling works worldwide
YES. Get Big Oil to drill for HEAT
The energy generation is obviously great, but the provision of community heating is the only way to fully realise the benefits of such installation. From fossil fuel plant burn to plug, you lose about 80% of the energy, with a significant amount of UK homes actually heated by gas.
Several decades ago, I recall reading about Californian geothermal operations having a problem with their pipes and equipment getting clogged up from the dissolved minerals. It sure sounds like the water in the kind of loop described here is heading for the same kind of problems, becoming increasingly laden with various minerals..
I remember there was an experimental geothermal borehole project in Cornwall in the 1980s which failed due to minerals crystallising and blocking up the joints through the water was flowing. What has changed since then? I imagine the development of deviated drilling has made the process much more thermally efficient, but that still doesn't account for the geochemical problem.
Part of Newcastle University Science area that has been built this last 5 years or so is run fully or not far off geothermal energy from a hole they dug a while back tapping in to that Northern section on the map you showed.