Quantitative assessment of the environmental risks of geothermal energy: A review

Chen, Siyuan; Zhang, Qi; Andrews‐Speed, Philip; McLellan, Benjamin

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111287

Cited by 53 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 136 publications

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“…This type of energy does not contain carbon, so its use produces virtually no anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases or other pollutants, which helps in reducing our negative impact on both the climate and the environment. This is consistent with combatting climate change and achieving sustainable development goals through global energy transition [78]. Compared to other renewable, carbon-free sources of energy such as solar and wind energy, geothermal energy has a number of advantages.…”

Section: Geothermal Energysupporting

confidence: 55%

Carbon Footprint Reduction and Climate Change Mitigation: A Review of the Approaches, Technologies, and Implementation Challenges

Lobus,

Knyazeva,

Popova

et al. 2023

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Since the Industrial Revolution, human economic activity and the global development of society in general have been heavily dependent on the exploitation of natural resources. The use of fossil fuels, deforestation, the drainage of wetlands, the transformation of coastal marine ecosystems, unsustainable land use, and many other unbalanced processes of human activity have led to an increase both in the anthropogenic emissions of climate-active gases and in their concentration in the atmosphere. It is believed that over the past ~150 years these phenomena have contributed to an increase in the global average temperature in the near-surface layer of the atmosphere by ~1 °C. Currently, the most pressing tasks facing states and scientific and civil societies are to reduce anthropogenic CO2 emissions and to limit the global air temperature increase. In this regard, there is an urgent need to change existing production systems in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to sequester them. In this review, we consider up-to-date scientific approaches and innovative technologies, which may help in developing roadmaps to reduce the emissions of climate-active gases, control rising temperatures, decarbonize economies, and promote the sustainable development of society in general.

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Section: Geothermal Energysupporting

confidence: 55%

Carbon Footprint Reduction and Climate Change Mitigation: A Review of the Approaches, Technologies, and Implementation Challenges

Lobus,

Knyazeva,

Popova

et al. 2023

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“…case of deep extraction because of the risk of micro-earthquakes 45 , as occurred during testing in late 2020 near Strasbourg, which halted drilling activities. If geothermal energy harvesting is stopped, lithium extraction would also be affected.…”

Section: Review Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental impact of direct lithium extraction from brines

Vera

Torres

Galli

et al. 2023

Nat Rev Earth Environ

211

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Evaporitic technology for lithium mining from brines has been questioned for its intensive water use, protracted duration and exclusive application to continental brines. In this Review, we analyse the environmental impacts of evaporitic and alternative technologies, collectively known as direct lithium extraction (DLE), for lithium mining, focusing on requirements for fresh water, chemicals, energy consumption and waste generation, including spent brines. DLE technologies aim to tackle the environmental and techno-economic shortcomings of current practice by avoiding brine evaporation. A selection of DLE technologies has achieved Li + recovery above 95%, Li + /Mg 2+ separation above 100, and zero chemical approaches. Conversely, only 30% of DLE test experiments were performed on real brines, and thus the effect of multivalent ions or large Na + /Li + concentration differences on performance indicators is often not evaluated. Some DLE technologies involve brine pH changes or brine heating up to 80 o C for improved Li + recovery, which require energy, fresh water and chemicals that must be considered during environmental impact assessments. Future research should focus on performing tests on real brines and achieving competitiveness in several performance indicators simultaneously. The environmental impact of DLE should be assessed from brine pumping to the production of the pure solid lithium product. Sections Lithium mining from continental brinesAs of 2022, worldwide, there are eight full-scale active facilities that produce lithium compounds from continental brines 9 and more are likely to become active before 2030 (Fig. 1a). The evaporitic technology (Fig. 1b) is currently in use at seven of those facilities 18,19 . Brines are Key points• Fresh water consumption of direct lithium extraction (DLE) needs to be urgently quantified. Many DLE technologies might require larger freshwater volumes than current evaporative practices, compromising their applicability in arid locations.• Environmental monitoring guidelines have been drafted with evaporitic technology in mind, but they should also be applied to the implementation of any DLE technology, which still consumes brine, uses fresh water and produces residues, the latter two hopefully at considerably lower volumes.Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author selfarchiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

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“…Consequently, conducting thorough evaluations of underground space resources before their exploitation and utilization is crucial. For instance, studies have examined the economic value of groundwater extraction [99][100][101][102] and the environmental benefits derived from geothermal energy utilization [103,104]. These analyses offer valuable insights that can guide the sustainable utilization of underground space resources.…”

Section: Ug Industrymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Research on the Value Evaluation of Urban Underground Space

Wu,

Wen,

2024

Land

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The contradiction between urban construction and sustainable development has led to an increasing demand for urban underground space (UUS). The value evaluation of urban underground space (UUSVE) is of great significance in promoting the rational development of UUS. Currently, no study has reviewed the literature on UUSVE. This paper provides a preliminary review of the legal basis and element composition of UUS, and the themes, evaluation objects, and evaluation methods of UUSVE, attempting to clarify the current status of UUSVE and analyze its future development trends. Finally, by summarizing the legal basis, element composition, research status and trends of UUSVE, three suggestions to strengthen UUSVE are proposed: (1) to strengthen the research on the shortcomings of UUSVE methods; (2) to build an evaluation index library and case library; and (3) to emphasize interdisciplinary collaboration, with a particular focus on the application research of machine learning.

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Quantitative assessment of the environmental risks of geothermal energy: A review

Cited by 53 publications

References 136 publications

Carbon Footprint Reduction and Climate Change Mitigation: A Review of the Approaches, Technologies, and Implementation Challenges

Carbon Footprint Reduction and Climate Change Mitigation: A Review of the Approaches, Technologies, and Implementation Challenges

Environmental impact of direct lithium extraction from brines

A Review of Research on the Value Evaluation of Urban Underground Space

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