New research shows geothermal heating may have limited longevity
Though the Earth's deeper layers have been raging at thousands of degrees for billions of years, new research involving Florida Tech has shown that tapping into that heat to produce geothermal heating for urban regions on the surface has a far, far shorter lifespan.
Maybe just a few decades.
Florida Tech astrobiology assistant professor Manasvi Lingam, along with Alto University researcher Eero Hirvijoki and University of Western Australia researcher David Pfefferlé, recently published the paper, "Longevity and power density of intermediate-to-deep geothermal wells in district heating applications" in the European Physical Journal Plus. The team explored how practical it to use geothermal heating in northern, colder latitudes, places like Boston, Toronto London and Helsinki, Finland.
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