I’m surprised this morning to learn about a blow to the future of geothermal, a major form of renewable (clean) energy. The New York Times reports that a $60 million geothermal project in Basel, Switzerland, has been permanently canceled because of the earthquakes the project’s drilling caused (emphasis mine). The drilling-induced earthquakes caused a total of $9 million in damages to homes and other structures, with no human life lost. The project’s developer, a former oilman named Markus O. Haring, is facing criminal charges for the property damage.
While it makes intuitive sense that drilling miles down into the earth in fault zones could trigger small earthquakes, this is the first time I’ve heard of it definitely happening. The implications for sustainability are large. For instance, the Obama administration’s first major test of advanced geothermal energy happens to be an AltaRock project — in the hills north of San Francisco. San Francisco, like the entire west coasts of North and South America (my hometown of Portland, Oregon included), is on earthquake fault lines. Will the AltaRock project be safe enough to be viable? I’m doubtful. I lived through two major earthquakes in my youth in Southern California. Quakes are terrifying, in their long anxiety-producing aftermaths even more than in the seconds the earth is actually shuddering under your body. Triggering them with deliberate human activity seems ill-advised.
Learning that geothermal energy has major limits should remind us of the larger context for sustainability: we need to flat out use less energy of any kind. Renewables are much less concentrated than the fossil fuels that currently supply the great majority of our energy. They’re like fermented apple cider compared to 80 proof grain alcohol. They need our active partnership in order to fill the bill of a sustainable world. That’s why I offer tips on slashing our heating bills, electricity bills and use of gasoline.
On a different climate-change topic, I’m glad to see that the Copenhagen climate change talks have already produced a pledge of $3 billion in aid from the European Union to poorer nations as the world moves forward with reducing emissions. This makes sense given that England and France, in particular, built much of their wealth by colonizing and exploiting some of those same countries in the 2oth century and earlier. Climate aid in our emerging carbon-constrained world is a way that Europe can finally give back and create a measure of social justice.
This geothermal news surprises me a bit; I didn’t think the relatively tiny holes (in diameter) would trigger any quakes, but obviously I was wrong.
Your point about using less energy, period, is one that keeps being overlooked. Right now, we’re playing a gigantic game of wack-a-mole as we try to chase various solutions. Geo causes quakes, shale natural gas “fraccing” causes water pollution, coal and oil–well, don’t get me started.
As many have said already, the largest untapped energy source we have is conservation, so-called “negawatts”. I just wonder what set of circumstances it will take to push us to take that obvious, painless step.
Well said, Lou (and please, always feel free to ‘get started’). The negawatts concept is a great one . . . . it needs a post of its own.
It’s pretty remarkable what drilling a relatively small hole can cause. Exploratory drilling for oil/gas in Indonesia caused a massive mud volcano that’s spewed millions of cubic meters of mud and completely engulfed an entire village. Even more scary, it continues to erupt pours out 100,000 cubic meters of mud A DAY… http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/7699672.stm