Beneath Europe's factories sits enough underground heat to save about €850 million (about $1 billion) a year

Industry burns enormous amounts of gas just to make heat. A new analysis by Project InnerSpace and Future Cleantech Architects, released October 28, mapped 30 industrial clusters across Europe as priority candidates for switching that heat to geothermal — energy drawn from hot rock below ground. Making the switch in those clusters could save about €840–850 million (about $1 billion) a year in fuel costs and avoid about 4.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, the equivalent of more than 9 million barrels of oil. The study estimates 18,000 gigawatts-thermal of heat at 100°C or above beneath the EU-27 — a figure so large the constraint is not the resource, but the drilling. Belgium's clusters are among the candidates now being examined.

SDG 7 · Affordable and clean energy