It’s no secret that I like the Dutch. However, it’s not just because I was born of a rich Dutch ancestry. The Dutch are continually impressing me with stories about what they can do with water. In fact, thanks to their ingenuity with dikes, canals, and the like, about 60% of Holland’s population lives below sea level.
Now, they’ve taken it a step further and are using abandoned mines to provide geothermal energy to the City of Heerlen, according to this article in the Times. Not only does this have the potential to be carbon-neutral (no, it isn’t neutral yet), but it also should help revive an old mining town that has seen a large decline since the mine was shut down. According to the article, the project also includes “the first geothermal power station in the world”.
