New research on sea ice

[Captain Kong]

Maybe some intelligent person could find a way of harnessing Volcanoes and the heat they produce for energy.

[robpage]

You don't need volcanoes you drill deep enough you can set up a geothermal well where you sent down water and it comes back hot they had a test one in Southampton probably 30 years ago don't know whatever happened to it but you could tap the Earth's heat

[vic mcclymont]

I believe it may have been Newcastle Uni were testing Geo Thermal in the eighties or nineties. Don't know the outcome.
Vic
Iceland house are heated with Geo Thermal energy and I believe the generate electricity from geothermal heat.
Vc

[robpage]

A major geothermal heating project lies in the centre of Southampton – has it been worth it?

In the principled fight to reduce fossil fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in the UK, many different sources of energy have been trialled. Solar panels, wind turbines and nuclear power are the obvious options, but neither are without controversy – particularly the latter. Less obvious are hydroelectric and tidal power, with the former having limited useful application in the UK, and with the latter still being rather experimental.

But one form of energy generation, geothermal, is usually rejected as an unfeasible option in the UK. Geothermal energy generation involves pumping cold water into deep underground wells, in order to heat the water to run a turbine and generate electricity. On paper, geothermal seems like a great option; it’s a renewable, sustainable and carbon neutral energy source. It also creates minimal waste, and it is not generally weather dependent. However, it is often considered to only be efficient near to tectonic plate boundaries, which would render it useless in the UK. Although near to plate boundaries indisputably improves the efficiency of geothermal power, there’s no reason why it can’t work in other places. While volcanic activity leads to greatly increased near-surface underground temperatures, there is still a significant temperature gradient underground in many places around the world.

Interestingly enough, to find examples of geothermal power in less geologically active places, there is no need to look further than Southampton’s city centre!

The use of geothermal power in the UK was first considered in the oil crisis of the early 1970s, although research decreased with oil prices after the crisis. Some research continued however, and in 1981, the Department of Energy found success in drilling a geothermal well in the Hampshire area. It was eventually deemed to not be a commercially successful option, and the Department of Energy discontinued research into it. However, Southampton City Council, then lead by Alan Whitehead (the current MP for Southampton Test), chose to take up the project themselves, with aims to make Southampton a ‘self-sufficient city’.

In 1987, drilling for the well started in the city centre. The well draws water from an aquifer 1800m under the surface, at a temperature of 76oC. The system is contained under a red corrugated building (pictured above) next to WestQuay and IKEA. It provides 13GWh of energy a year, and helps to provide the heating for several buildings, including WestQuay, the Civic Centre, and Royal South Hants Hospital. The amount of energy the system supplies is relatively low considering the amount of research and money put into developing it, but it is still considered as an efficient method of heating several buildings in the city centre around 30 years later!

With that in mind, as far as I can tell, Southampton’s very own geothermal project has been a success. To date, there has still been very little further research and development into the practical use of geothermal energy in the UK. There has been a small amount of research in Cornwall, and a similar system to Southampton’s is currently being developed for use in Stoke-on-Trent. Despite this, there’s evidence that geothermal has the potential to be able to supply a fairly significant portion of the UK’s energy and heating needs, and increased use and research would surely decrease the cost.

While there are several methods of sustainable energy sources that can be implemented in the UK to help replace the use of fossil fuels, it seems clear to me that perhaps geothermal power is an option that shouldn’t be overlooked.

[happy daze john in oz]

It has come to light here in Oz that renewable energy is causing major problems.
Wind turbines are being subsidized to such a level that they are far from environmentaly friendly.
Solar is big and getting bigger.

Government rebates now make it suitable for many more households, like mine who has just added another 8 panels, to add or begin with solar.

But the problem, the grid can no longer cope with all the additional energy being pumped into it.
We are, according to Labor, heading to 45% renewable provided.

Rebates for solar are fine for those living in conventional houses and units they own.
But in rental or multi storey not so good, they cannot have solar so in time, and it is already occurring, their price for electricity will rise substantially.

One of the problems is the solar rebate paid by power companies for power put back into the grid.
Currently anywhere from 10cents to, as in my case, 66cents per kilowatt hour.

[Captain Kong]

I wish we had Global Warming here, the Temp last night was MINUS 4 C. and it is only October, my Gas Bill is going through the roof.
In Parts of Scotland reported to be MINUS 10 C, and lots of snow.

Those daft Greens will have to review their forecasts.

[Rodney Mills]

Showing results for "Can volcanoes cause world oceans to get warmer?"

Answer from a "greenie" I guess, then, to all "flat-earthers", on volcano surface and subsurface. Information found by enquiring " Do volcanos cause global warning?

Short version for those too busy to read the below links, I found them by googeling Does subsurface volcanic activity cause global warming?

I did not cherry-pick these responses. I took three out of the first four, skipping over the Daily Wail.

For those too busy to read the links, the short answer is No. In fact above ocean level eruptions have the opposite effect, they cause temporary global cooling due to the ash encircling the upper atmosphere, interfering with the sun's warming effect.

Sub-surface volcanic activity, though there are 3+million identified and it is extrapolated to 34million, and were they all to erupt at the same time and each poured out a identical flow of magma, could not raise the oceans temperature significantly. An exceptionally large event could raise localized ocean temperature but not the earths oceans, however, it is the surface temperature that does the damage and the majority of underwater volcanos are too deep to effect much localized surface change. Deep sea volcanic activity that is constant has an unique ecosystem that survives due to the localized warming effect in a dark, bitterly cold environment.


On Deep Sea Volcanoes and Ocean Warming: Reprint | Volcano World
volcano.oregonstate.edu/deep-sea-volcanoes-and-ocean-warming-reprint

We see water getting warmed by magma at volcanoes worldwide, like Taal ... to heat all the oceans by 0.5C - it is bound to be more than you can get out of a few …


Undersea Volcanoes May Be Impacting Climate Change | Time
time.com › Science › climate change

Feb 6, 2015 - An underwater volcanic erupts in the Pacific Ocean ... “People have ignored seafloor volcanoes on the idea that their influence is ... steady pace, but Tolstoy thinks that not only do the volcanoes erupt in bursts, they follow ... emitted into the atmosphere, causing the Earth to warm further and creating a cycle.

The above read like they agree to the augument of volcanos warming the ocean, but it's the questions raised by "flat-earthers" to the scientific organization, who answers in the negative.

[John Arton]

A ground source heat pump can provide all of a household heating and hot water needs and coupled with solar panels that can provide not only all your electrical needs including the electrical supply required to operate the heat pump, can make homes almost carbon neutral. Even in the U.K. you only have to go down to a couple of metres to lay the pipe work that can extract the heat stored in the earth.
Rgds
J.A.

[vic mcclymont]

In 1807, the north west passage was free of ice allowing ships to sail to Japan.
Vic

[Captain Kong]

When I was in the Antarctic we went to Desolation Island , sailed through the caldera of a dead volcano the water in there was VERY WARM, and we all went swimming surrounded by ice covered mountains and glaciers, an unusual experience.
So I would say that volcanoes do have a warming effect on the oceans, from Hawaii to Antarctica That must contribute to global warming.

So obviously No one can agree , the Greens who have no worldly experience know better than people who go and see what is really happening.