As a part of the research being done by the team here at the Sustainable Earth Institute about the Deep Geothermal project at United Downs, we think it is really important to share as much as we can what we are doing with anyone who is interested. With this in mind we are planning a series of short summaries that look at different aspects of our research, which we are calling ‘Hot Topics’!
The first of these Hot Topics focuses on a question we sometimes get asked: ‘why are you researching communication and public perception around geothermal power?’ To answer this question we took a look at two examples of Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) development in Switzerland that had very different approaches to communication and compared the literature around them. We found that communication had a big impact on the way the community interacted with the geothermal projects, particularly when seismicity was higher.
Read and download the full Hot Topic post in PDF format
Keep an eye out for more Hot Topics that will be released over the next few months about other aspects of our work, and if you have a question you would like us to answer in a Hot Topic, please get in touch and let us know either by emailing sei@plymouth.ac.uk or on Twitter @PlymHotRocks.
The United Downs Deep Geothermal Power Project is a partnership of organisations exploring if geothermal power is a viable energy resource for the UK. It is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Cornwall Council.