Durham E-Theses Carbon Neutral County Durham: A Review of County Durham's Low Carbon Sustainable Resource Base in Order to Become Carbon Neutral by 2050 MAWSON, ROBERT,JAMES How to cite: MAWSON, ROBERT,JAMES (2020) Carbon Neutral County Durham: A Review of County Durham's Low Carbon Sustainable Resource Base in Order to Become Carbon Neutral by 2050 , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/13825/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Carbon Neutral County Durham: A Review of County Durham’s Low Carbon Sustainable Resource Base in Order to Become Carbon Neutral by 2050 Robert James Mawson 1 Abstract In February 2019, Durham County Council declared a climate emergency in recognition that without action, global warming will continue on its current trajectory of 3°C warming, causing disastrous effects. The target was agreed that County Durham would become carbon neutral by the year 2050. Aside from energy saving, carbon removal and offset measures, this project details the technical potential low carbon, sustainable resource base that County Durham has in order to meet the county’s current energy demand of ~10,500 GWh/yr. This resource base includes; mine water, deep geothermal, photovoltaics, solar thermal, wind, biomass, waste, hydrogen, hydropower and tidal energy. Analysis of these resources covers how the resource works, what the resource depends upon, the energy potential in County Durham, possible limitations, land use, economics and the learnings taken from relevant case studies. This study found that County Durham has an uneven low carbon sustainable energy mix, which favours the production of electricity and heat rather than alternative transport fuels. To decarbonise the heating sector, County Durham has a large mine water energy resource that has the potential to heat up to the equivalent of 91% of the homes in the county. If County Durham initially invested in mine water energy with other resources such as domestic solar thermal systems and heat pumps, this would allow time for the current gas networks to be repurposed for a hybrid hydrogen network. This hybrid network would remove mine water’s limitation of proximity to the source. Due to land constraints there is no realistic alternative to transport fuels available from low carbon resources in County Durham whilst hydrogen, remains within its infancy as a major transport fuel energy source. Transport is therefore likely to require electrification which matches the UK’s current plans. To produce enough electricity to decarbonise the electricity and transport sector, a mixture of offshore/onshore wind energy, photovoltaics, domestic energy projects and a biorefinery would be required. The proportion of this mixture depends upon if land and/or economic investment is prioritised. 2 Table of Contents List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... 6 List of Figures .................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 1 - County Durham Background ............................................................................ 9 1.1 Geology .............................................................................................................................. 10 1.1.1 Ordovician ......................................................................................................................................... 11 1.1.2 Devonian ........................................................................................................................................... 12 1.1.3 Carboniferous .................................................................................................................................... 13 1.1.4 Permian ............................................................................................................................................. 16 1.1.5 Triassic ............................................................................................................................................... 17 1.1.6 Jurassic .............................................................................................................................................. 17 1.1.7 Summary ........................................................................................................................................... 18 1.2 Geography .......................................................................................................................... 19 1.2.1 Topography ....................................................................................................................................... 19 1.2.2 Solar Insolation .................................................................................................................................. 20 1.2.3 Wind .................................................................................................................................................. 21 .................................................................................................................................................................... 22 1.2.4 Rainfall ............................................................................................................................................... 22 1.3 Energy ................................................................................................................................ 23 1.3.1 Energy Demand ................................................................................................................................. 23 1.3.2 Emissions ........................................................................................................................................... 25 1.3.3 Current Low Carbon Energy Production ............................................................................................ 30 1.4 Reasons for Undertaking This Project .................................................................................. 34 1.5 Aims of the Project ............................................................................................................. 35 1.6 Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 35 Chapter 2 - Low Carbon, Sustainable Resources ............................................................... 37 2.1 Mine Water Energy ............................................................................................................. 38 2.1.1 How it works ...................................................................................................................................... 38 2.1.2 What does the resource depend on? ................................................................................................ 40 2.1.3 Energy Potential in County Durham .................................................................................................. 42 2.1.4 Limitations of the Resource ............................................................................................................... 44 2.1.5 Economics .......................................................................................................................................... 47 2.1.6 Case Study Examples ......................................................................................................................... 47 2.1.7 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................ 52 2.2 Deep Geothermal Energy .................................................................................................... 53 2.2.1 How it works ...................................................................................................................................... 53 2.2.2 What does the resource depend upon? ............................................................................................ 57 2.2.3 Energy potential in County Durham .................................................................................................. 58 2.2.4 Limitations of the Resource ............................................................................................................... 61 2.2.5 Economics .......................................................................................................................................... 63 2.2.6 Case Study Examples ......................................................................................................................... 64 2.2.7 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................