Posts Tagged ‘aquifer’
Final blog for sustainability of Florida’s aquifers
This marks the end of a seven part series discussing sustainibility of Florida's aquifers for geo-thermal heating and cooling. Geo-thermal cooling in Florida will never be fully sustainable in the sense that solar is. But looking forward in time at Florida's aquifers-will years of increased geothermally engineered and constructed air conditioning and heating systems disrupt the aquifers? Having covered other aspects already (like heating the aquifers up through time), the only thing left I could find is comparing geothermal cooling to cooling towers. Cooling towers pump surprising amounts of water from the aquifer and evaporate most of it. What isn't evaporated represents a refined concentrate of eroded metals, slime, bacteria, minerals, and badly needed water treatment chemicals. This remaining water winds up back in the aquifer. By comparison; using a closed loop for the chiller's condensor pumps and dumps equal amounts of water into the aquifer. The water dumped back down into the aquifer is an equal amount of water to what is drawn out. There currently is some metal contact in the process, yes, this is comparable to cooling towers. Since geothermal can use less energy that cooling towers systems during peak conditions ...
sustainable geothermal in Florida part VI
Hello again and thanks for the comments. Metal contact has come up several times as a drawback to using Florida's aquifers for geothermal heating and cooling. The point being that the aquifers are used for drinking water and irrigating food crops. Subjecting this water to continual contact with metals in geothermal pumps/heat exchangers/and piping can only add to the metal content in the water and eventually harm Florida resident's health. So without changes and refinements in geo-thermal; is metal content in water a permanent roadblock to the sustainability of geothermal in Florida? This is true and self evident, but is it a good reason to limit geothermal? In the years since I have been practicing engineering, I have seen many sweeping changes in engineering practices as a result of evolution. For example, not that long ago-asbestos was a welcomed product for insulation. As problems became evident with this product, so did solutions. (Asbestos doesn't exist now but it has given birth to better products). Refrigerants is a great example. The HVAC industry has grown in leaps and bounds with respect to refrigerants and environmental impact. And world-wide, precise plans are ...
Sustainability versus Florida’s Aquifers
Hi again, here are more of my thoughts on geothermal effects on Florida's aquifers. Thanks for your comments and thoughts so far. Today's thought is a larger picture of all of the ways we interact with out aquifers. Geo-thermal heating and cooling is a small example. Domestic water use and irrigation are larger examples. Here is another factor impacting the aquifers. Aquaculture, livestock, and agriculture. While Florida's crops draw irrigation for aquifers, they also tap into them for frost proof measures as well. Often times, water is drawn from aquifers and spread onto plants and the surrounding soil to make it harder for things to freeze during cold weather. Once done, the water is left to find someplace to go. It evaporates mostly in the cold dry air (and wind) and to a certain extent percolates back down the aquifer. But, geothermal does have sustainable applications here. Aquifer water at 72 degrees can be pumped through long pipes below the surface to help raise soil temperatures and then pumped backed down into the aquifer. The more this concept catches on, the more positive impact ...
More on Florida’s Aquifers and Sustainability
These recent blogs are a forum on whether or not increased geo-thermal designs and installations by Florida's contractors and HVAC engineers will cause aquifers to become contaminated with heat and metals. The heat coming from Florida's considerable air conditioning loads and the metals coming from contact between aquifer water and pipes, heat exchangers, and pumps. Today's point has to do with the thermal boundaries of Florida's aquifers. At least two factors naturally contribute to temperatures in the aquifers. One is the heat from the core of the earth itself. The closer one gets to the center of the earth the more heat one sees from the earth's core. Despite this, the Florida aquifer averages about 74F, which according to the Geothermal map of North America (link attached). So the end result of all the heat that goes into and out of Florida's aquifers is that the aquifer is considerable cooler than any other subteranean area in our latitude. Why? Florida's aquifers have this second factor in their thermal boundaries. Florida's annual downpour of rain. Parts of Florida receive over 60 inches of rain per year. This adds up to a vast amount of cool ...
Sustainability in Florida
[caption id="attachment_31" align="alignright" width="112" caption="Guy Van Meulebrouck"][/caption] The heart of Florida's geothermal treasure is it's huge aquifer system. As contractors and engineers progressively tap more and more into the aquifer a question arises-will the aquifer heat up through time? Environmental concerns is the topic. I had a few thoughts on this subject. I will blog the rest of my ideas in coming days. First of all, any heat that goes into the aquifer as a result of geothermal would otherwise go into the atmosphere at a higher rate (since geothermal draws less electric per BTU of cooling than air source equipment). HVAC (Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning) is what allowed Florida to grow to it's present population and air conditioning will not go away in Florida. This argument looks at the planet as the control area and asks what proof is there that a slightly warmer aquifer is tragic compared to a warmer atmosphere? Looking at the whole pictue will take several blogs. Tune in for more and feel free to let me know your thoughts and research on the subject.
