More Live Blogging from UBC Climate Change Symposia – Geothermal Energy
From the Panel on Accelerating Solutions to Climate Change
11:20am – Dr. John Meech – Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions using Geothermal Energy Systems.
What are Geothermal Energy systems? It’s all about using the heat that’s already there…. where does it come from? Geothermal energy – comes from nuclear reactions deep in the earths core. It’s like the ultimate form of nuclear power. You can do this in your back yard! If you can put a trench in your back yard, you can extract enough heat to heat your home. Other examples, that you might already know about include spas or hotsprings.
The most important aspect of geothermal power to consider is the footprint of emissions. It’s almost like there are zero emissions. Unlike solar and wind power, geothermal energy is always there… you can always taps it into the grid. It’s a mature technology, sustainable if managed properly (examples, geisers in San Fransisco), a domestic resource, the list of advantages goes on…
What is needed? We need a bold innovative program to increase the amount of electricity that we produce. We currently import/export energy in BC. Where are our local geothermal resources? Mt Calyley & Harrison Hotsprings, Meager Creek and Pebble Creek (Pemberton area). The list goes on…. We have hotspring activity all over the province that we aren’t taking advantage of. We have examples of record breaking production facilities, over 30, 000 residential homes have geothermal pumps installed, even examples of institutions Lynn Valley Care Centre that are using this technology, and new research is developing applications of this technology for new uses, heating greenhouse facilities for example.
Conclusion – BC should begin exploiting this “cleanest and greenest” energy resource because Geothermal Energy can play a major role in the BC Energy plan.
