FRENCH WILL FLY GEOTHERMAL

Good news about air travel? Really? Yep.

Signifying a vital truth about New Energy, French bubbling waters will now provide more than mineral-filled belches. Orly Airport will shift a third of its energy consumption to emissions-free heating by geothermal resources in the immediate vicinity.

What is the vital truth this French deep drilling signifies?

Unlike the coal-powered 19th century or the oil-driven 20th, there is no one answer to 21st century energy needs. It is about all kinds of renewable resources in all kinds of places and situations. Solar where the sun shines, wind where it blows, waves and tides from the oceans, heat from the bubbling waters below the earth where they are available.

But there is probably no need to explain that to the eminently practical French. Just as they have a tradition of drilling deep into the heart of things metaphysical, they also have a comprehensive program for geothermal development in addition to their aggressive building of wind and solar infrastructure.

In this case, the power plant is an airport. (click to enlarge)

Paris airport to go green with geothermal energy
April 3, 2008 (AFP via Yahoo News)

WHO
Pierre Graff, chairman/managing director, Aeroports de Paris (ADP)

The heat source is the earth. (click to enlarge)

WHAT
On site geothermal energy will be tapped to heat Paris’ Orly Airport.

WHEN
Technical and feasibility studies are under way. The system is expected to be operational by 2011.

Orly is all the way at the bottom of the map. (click to enlarge)

WHERE
- Orly-Ouest, part of Orly-South, the airport Hilton and two business districts will be able to get heat from the system.
- The nearby towns of Orly and l'Hay-les-Roses already use geothermal energy for heating.

WHY
- Orly is one of Paris’ two international air travel centers.
- Cost is expected to be E11 million ($17.27 million).
- Two shafts 1,700 meters (1 mile) deep at the airport perimeter will access a water table heated by the Earth's hot core. Natural pressure will drive the water up at 74 degrees Celsius (165 degrees Fahrenheit). It will circulate through the airport and other heating systems and then be pumped back into the ground at 45 C (113 F).

The deeper you drill, the hotter it gets. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
Pierre Graff, chairman/managing director, Aeroports de Paris (ADP): "We have the unprecedented luck of having hot water below our feet that can heat a large part of Orly without CO2 [carbon dioxide] emissions. We are the first airport in Europe to do this…"