Will Beijing succumb to Geothermal Quake too?

I just want to write a few lines today. I was just wondering if Beijing would be the next victim of untenable exploitation of geothermal energy. This so-called green energy is in fact fraught with danger since it heats up the upper earth crust when the vents are not managed properly. So is geothermal energy really tenable in the first place. Just like oil extraction the vicinity should not be habitable since the land would be devastated in time. The effect on farming would surface in time since the rising hydrogen chloride and reinjection of waste water would change the acidity of the fast depleting arable lands. The water table or underground reservoir had to be continually replenished to prevent overheating. Some smart ass would then resort to “Dry Heat Geothermal” energy which is basically splashing water onto hot rocks (like onto hot charcoal) to generate steam that would also rupture the upper crust.
Importantly, oil and the water table serve to act like a buffering absorbent to cushion the earth tectonic movement. This especially true for the underground water table and any vacuum from over-exploitation for geothermal plant (without adequate reinjection) would suck up massive water from nearby farming regions. This perhaps explain why vast land would “suddenly” become desert like especially in summer when both farming and geothermal energy could be competing for the same underground water table.

The latest news about Beijing showcasing

“Geothermal Utilization in Tianjin Olympic Sport Center As A Part of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games”
(from IGA News #58, October - December 2004)
(http://www.geothermie.de/iganews/no58/geothermal_utilization_in_tianji.htm)

Maybe a great opportunity for expert to give their views given the ravaged situation in the Sichuan earthquake. Perhaps it would be wise to note this article too:
“Geothermal reinjection is one of the important measures for sustainable development of geothermal resources. In the Urban, Xiaotangshan and Liangxiang etc. geothermal fields in Beijing, thermal water levels were found to be falling as a result of exploitation that started in the 1970s.

Since the implementation of a management policy for geothermal resources in Beijing in the mid-1980s, each well has been planned with a permitted extraction rate. The total exploitation of a geothermal field has been controlled to maintain stable exploitation. As a result, the thermal water drawdown has trended toward stability; it drops about 1.5 meters per year…”

Maybe Beijing should be mindful of this too.

Maybe the clock has started!

“The First Geothermal Village in China
Keyan Zheng, Geothermal Council of China Energy Society (GCES)”

… In this village peasants no longer cultivate the fields. They all live in two storey villas. There are geothermal baths and geothermal space heating in their houses. It is not the “Arabian Nights”. This is the Village of Nangong, located in a suburb of Beijing. There are 2,700 people in the village. ……
(from IGA News #61, July – September 2005)
http://www.geothermie.de/iganews/no61/china.htm

Without the multitude of water tables below the ground, being exploited in the possible mushrooming of geothermal villages in Beijing, to buffer earth movement. Well, I guess the result would be earth shattering indeed.

Maybe there is really a Earth God like what the Chinese pray too. I think she is called Mother Nature!

It’s The final countdown
(link)

So perhaps this is what “economic implosion” means after all.

Take Care

Mikey

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Addendum: I read this today (19 Mar 0 about someone writing to start or have started a project called “The China Geothermal Energy Earthquake Deterrent Project“. I think he wanted China to dig many geothermal wells to deter quakes. I thought it was not so wise and replied in his site as follows:

I think your idea is not wise, since recently it was found that geothermal activities had been triggering earthquakes like in Switzerland, Germany (with land subsiding), Nevada (most recently with the gigantic military geothermal plant there) and even in Leyte mudslide that could have been triggered by the geothermal plant set up some ten years ago. You see, geothermal activities will deplete the surrounding massive underground water reservoir or table and this not only render the land to become non-arable, meaning lesser and lesser land to grow food but important if earthquake should come, then it tremor would magnify many times since the water table would have served to buffer the land. That is what happened to the quake around the Myanmar in 2007. But because it is a delta, the effect was not immediately felt. Maybe the land did subside but it was only felt when the tide came in with the cyclone this year. By the way, if you are to suggest for more geothermal wells to be dug, see what happened to Sichuan. Geothermal wells are usually located in populated areas and any land subsiding would be disastrous. Your idea to dig holes to alleviate built of ground pressure may make sense in the short term but only very selectively and not on an extensive scale that would render the land untenable for food production and population etc. Therefore do proceed with caution.

Cheers!

Mikey