Mine water utilization as a secondary heat source and heat storage in a smart local heating and cooling distribution system

Mine water has been gaining increasing attention in recent years as a potential source for heat recovery and storage. This is due to its unique properties that make it an ideal medium for capturing and storing large amounts of thermal energy. Mine water is naturally heated by the earth's geothermal energy and typically has a constant temperature throughout the year, making it an excellent source of renewable energy. Additionally, the water's high thermal conductivity and large volumes provide an effective means for storing and transferring heat. With the increasing demand for sustainable energy sources and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the utilization of mine water for heat recovery and storage has become an attractive option for many industries and communities. In this project, we will explore the benefits of using mine water for heat recovery and storage, as well as some of the risks and challenges that need to be overcome to fully realize its potential as a renewable energy source

A Case Study of the Integration of Mine water into Smart Cooling and Heating Network systems

Minewater presents a significant opportunity as an energy source and store in the UK and elsewhere. This research investigates the feasibility and factors necessary to successfully integrate minewater into smart cooling and heating network systems that can support acceleration towards the UK’s net zero target. Heat recovery from minewater offers a lowcarbon source of energy for either heating or cooling and can provide thermal storage, potentially valuable for inter-seasonal demand. The work builds on a feasibility study in Barnsley, Yorkshire, which explored the design of a heat network that integrates heat, power, and mobility and uses waste heat from a glass factory. This work focusses on analyzing the subsurface factors including flowrate, yield, mine void volume, and interconnectivity, which affect the flow and consequently thermal behavior of the available minewater. A 3D model using Petrel and Groundhog have been created combining data from the available boreholes and Coal Authority maps to characterise the subsurface conditions

Driving success towards zero carbon energy targets for UK's Local Authorities

This paper draws on three case studies which show feasible and economic results in meeting net zero carbon emissions targets through Smart Local Energy Systems (SLES) in different localities across England, exploring opportunities to utilise waste heat from industry. They are based on the GreenSCIES model for which the blueprint was developed in London, Study 1. It consists of a fifth generation (5G) ambient loop district heat network using waste heat from a data centre, integrated with electric vehicle charging, storage and solar PV. The network includes decentralised heat pumps and allows for (i) heat sharing between buildings and (ii) applications for heat recovery from local sources. Study 2 is based on a heat network with waste heat from a foundry and some cooling supply and heat storage in the aquifer. Study 3 explored waste heat from a glassworks and considered mine workings for providing heat storage. These SLES projects illustrate how to integrate local waste heat sources in 3G and 4G heat networks, adapting the original GreenSCIES concept, providing pathways towards net zero carbon for a diverse range of urban locations with different waste heat sources, and further demonstrate the importance of collaboration between researchers, local government and industry

Evaluation of low temperature waste heat as a low carbon heat resource in the UK

The capture and transport of waste heat represents a great opportunity for the decarbonisation of heat supply in buildings. To date, mostly high temperature waste heat has been reused and reported. However, with the recent advent of low and ambient temperature (4th and 5th generation) district energy networks, there is scope for the recovery and utilisation of heat from a range of novel, low temperature sources. The current study represents one of the first attempts to quantify the size of this opportunity, with particular focus in the UK, and complements the few previous attempts at estimating low temperature waste heat by focussing on a range of novel sources. The approach used was to evaluate a number of low temperature waste heat sources to determine: (a) the annual quantity of waste heat generated; and (b) the temperature(s) of the waste heat, for each heat source. In many cases, this was achieved using methodology and assumptions derived from the authors’ earlier investigations. The relative merits and potential of each heat source are also discussed, with respect to location, proximity to end users, need for upgrade using a heat pump, continuity of supply and distribution options for reuse, for example by using district energy networks with different operating temperatures. The total quantity of waste heat energy identified from the heat sources considered in this study, for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, was estimated to be 572 TWh.a−1, which would represent 132% of the total energy consumption for heat in these countries (432 TWh.a−1). Although this study focused on the UK potential for low temperature waste heat, the estimation methods developed and resulting analysis are generic and could also be applied in the context of other countries

Aboriginal Practitioners Speak Out: Contextualising Child Protection Interventions

One month before the June 2007 Federal Government Emergency Intervention in the Northern Territory some 55 West Australian Aboriginal child protection workers attended a 3-day summit in Fremantle. Their purpose as front-line practitioners from across the State was to identify how more nurturing and healing communities could be developed and supported in a climate of despair. This paper reports on how the summit was designed and on some of the ideas and concerns that emerged within this dialogical space of cooperative inquiry. The project was a partnership between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal representatives of university, government, and community-service bodies. Aboriginal practitioners identified the complexity of what was happening in their experience and where changes were needed. Integral to this participation and coproduction of knowledge by Aboriginal child protection workers was the provision of a safe space for the articulation of reflected experience. Implications for policy, practice, and curriculum of both process and outcome dimensions to considering Aboriginal views on this contentious issue are discussed

From Aristotle to Arendt : a phenomenological exploration of forms of knowledge and practice in the context of child protection social work in the UK

This paper attempts to explore the relationship between different forms of knowledge and the kinds of activity that arise from them within child protection social work practice. The argument that social work is more than either ‘science’ or ‘art’ but distinctly ‘practice’ is put through a historical description of the development of Aristotle’s views of the forms of knowledge and Hannah Arendt’s later conceptualisations as detailed in The Human Condition (1958). The paper supports Arendt’s privileging of Praxis over Theoria within social work and further draws upon Arendt’s distinctions between Labour, Work and Action to delineate between different forms of social work activity. The author highlights dangers in social work relying too heavily on technical knowledge and the use of theory as a tool in seeking to understand and engage with the people it serves and stresses the importance of a phenomenological approach to research and practice as a valid, embodied form of knowledge. The argument further explores the constructions of service users that potentially arise from different forms of social work activity and cautions against over-prescriptive use of ‘outcomes’ based practice that may reduce the people who use services to products or consumables. The author concludes that social work action inevitably involves trying to understand humans in a complex and dynamic way that requires engagement and to seek new meanings for individual humans