Posts Tagged ‘sustainable energy’
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 ...
Sustainability within Florida’s Aquifers
This is blog #3 in a series about how sustainable geothermal energy is (or isn't) in Florida considering Florida's aquifer. Would Florida's aquifer heat up unacceptably because of contractors and engineers adding more and more geothermal projects into the aquifer? Will the added circulation increase the metal content of Florida's drinking supply? Comments and input are welcome here. Today, I wanted to mention a plus side of increasing Florida's geothermal heating and cooling activity. Not all of geothermal in Florida heats up the aquifer. Sometimes, it cools down the aquifer. Note that the Floridian and Hawthorne aquifers are huge on a geological scale so we are only talking about tiny temperature increases. But, consider pool heating, domestic hot water heating, and space heating. All of these things are included in geothermal projects and all of these take heat out of the aquifer-or even better. Because of the way geothermal piping loops operate and are designed, these heating loads can actually cross out the efforts of air conditioning in a thermal sense. Consider 74 degree water entering a series of heat pumps which are air conditioing. The water leaves ...
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.
