Some Like It Hot, For Others Warm Is Sufficient: Exploiting Waste Heat

Most of the time we take heat for granted, only noticing when it is too hot or too cold. Humans tend to generate heat (on purpose) by burning things; wood, coal, oil, natural gas and from time to time hydrogen and other materials. Heat is also the bit left over when engineers speak of the efficiency of an energy transformation process; the kinetic motion of a bicycle is dissipated as heat when the brakes are applied, the fridge or computer get hot when electricity is transformed to cooling in the fridge or processing power in the computer. Steam locomotives turn coal (chemical energy) into motion but only at 6% efficiency. The rest goes as vibrating molecules – that is heat and a little sound.

The Earth is hot, very hot and this is just as well because a cold planet would be a dead one. Anyone who has been down a mine will know its warmer below ground and progressively warmer the deeper you go, typically around 30 degrees C per kilometer. The same is true for oil and gas coming from the ground. Oil produced from 3km beneath the North Sea issues at 100 degrees C as does any co-produced water.

Join us as Jon Gluyas of Durham University examines what we are missing the use of in terms of waste heat in both the petroleum industry and long abandoned coal industry of the UK, how we might use that heat and what the collateral benefits of heat use would be in terms of sustainability and the circular economy.