FINDING THE EARTH’S HEAT

Scientists are using satellites to find untapped sources of geothermal energy under cities; Hot in the city.

Pete Dockrill, 15 January 2016 (ScienceAlert)

“…[Scientists] have developed a means of estimating groundwater temperature hidden under the surface of our cities, based on surface temperatures and the density of buildings as measured by satellites…A range of factors, including population density, vegetation levels, surface sealing, industrial structures, and transport all contribute to [the phenomenon of urban heat islands…

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“To better understand how thermal conduction operates between the surface and underground heat islands (aka subsurface urban heat islands, or SUHI), the researchers compared above-ground and underground temperatures in four German cities…They found that the older a city is, the more pronounced its underground heat…Approximately 95 percent of the areas studied were found to have a higher groundwater temperature than surface temperature, which the researchers attribute to a greater abundance of underground anthropogenic heat sources, such as cellars of buildings and sewers…It's this higher temperature in groundwater that could be used as a source of sustainable energy, for heating in winter and cooling in summer, with the help of geothermal or groundwater heat pumps…” click here for more

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