Integrated development of low-temperature thermal waters

The research concerns the efficient development of low-potential thermal waters in the East-Ciscaucasian artesian basin. A technology is proposed for the integrated development of low-temperature thermal water, using its heat potential for district heating and hot water supply, as well the water itself for various water management purposes, with its quality previously brought to the standards of drinking water. Various chemical water treatment units are suggested for this purpose, with their design and technological features being formed depending on the quality of the source water. The system will enable the maximization of the resource potential of the geothermal well and its all-year-round operation. The paper shows the efficiency of using the potential of geothermal energy resources in energy- biological complexes. The geothermal-biogas technology with the integrated application of thermal waters for various needs is presented. Such thermal water utilization provides for the most efficient use of its thermal potential with a decrease in temperature to a value close to the ambient temperature.

Geothermal Production from Existing Oil and Gas Wells: A Sustainable Repurposing Model

The geothermal energy industry has never quite realized its true potential despite the seemingly magical promise of nonstop, 24/7 renewable energy sitting just below the surface of the Earth. In this paper, we discuss an integrated cloud-based workflow aimed at evaluating the cost-effectiveness of adopting geothermal production in low to medium enthalpy systems by either repurposing existing oil and gas wells or by co-producing thermal and fossil energy. The workflow introduces an automated and intrinsically secure decision-making process to convert mature oil and gas wells into geothermal wells, enabling both operational and financial assessment of the conversion process, whether partial or complete. The proposed workflow focuses on the reliability and transparency of fully automated technical processes for the geological, hydrodynamic, and mechanical configuration of the production system to ensure the financial success of the conversion project, in terms of heat production potential and cost of development. The decision-making portion of the workflow comprises the technical, social, environmental factors driving the return on investment for the total or partial conversion of wells to geothermal production. These components are evaluated using artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that reduce bias in the decision-making process. The automated workflow involves assessment of the following: Heat Potential: A data-driven model to determine the geothermal heat potential using geological conditions from basin modeling and data from offset wells.Flow Modeling: An ultra-fast, physics-based modeling approach to determine pressure and temperature changes along wellbores to model fluid flow potential, thermal flux, and injection operations.Mechanical Integrity: Casing and completions integrity and configuration are embedded in the process for flow rates modeling.Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG): A decision modeling framework is setup to ensure the transparent validation of the technical components and ESG factors, including potential for water pollution, carbon emissions, and social factors such as induced seismicity and ambient noise levels The assurance of key ESG metrics will ensure a viable and sustainable transition into a globally available low-carbon source of energy such as geothermal. Our novel cloud- based automated decision-making environment incorporates a blockchain framework to ensure transparency of technical-related processes and tasks, driving the financial success of the conversion project. Ultimately, our automated workflow is designed to encourage and support the widespread adoption of low-carbon energy in the oil and gas industry.

Shifting seasonality of cyclones and western boundary current interactions in Bay of Bengal as observed during Amphan and Fani

In recent years, the seasonal patterns of Tropical Cyclones (TC) in the Bay of Bengal have been shifting. While tropical depressions have been common in March–May (spring), they typically have been relatively weaker than the TCs during October–December. Here we show that the spatial pattern of recent warming trends during the last two decades in the southwestern Bay has allowed for stronger springtime pre-monsoon cyclones such as Amphan (May 2020, Super Cyclone) and Fani (April–May 2019, Extremely Severe Cyclone). The tracks of the pre-monsoon cyclones shifted westward, concurrent with an increasing rate of warming. This shift allowed both Fani and Amphan tracks to cross the northeastward warm Western Boundary Current (WBC) and associated warm anti-cyclonic eddies, while the weaker Viyaru (April 2013, Cyclonic Storm) did not interact with the WBC. A quantitative model linking the available along-track heat potential to cyclone’s intensity is developed to understand the impact of the WBC on cyclone intensification. The influence of the warming WBC and associated anti-cyclonic eddies will likely result in much stronger springtime TCs becoming relatively common in the future.

Trends in Western North Pacific Tropical Cyclone Intensity Change Before Landfall

This study investigates the long-term trend in the average 24-h intensity change (ΔV24) of western North Pacific (WNP) tropical cyclones (TCs) before landfall during June-November for the period from 1970–2019. We find a significant increasing trend in basin-averaged ΔV24 during 1970–2019. The increase in ΔV24 is significant over the northern South China Sea (17.5°-25°N, 107.5°-120°E) and to the east of the Philippines (7.5°-15°N, 122.5°-132.5°E), implying a slower weakening rate before landfall for the South China Sea and an increased intensification rate before landfall for the region east of the Philippines. We find a significant linkage between changes in ΔV24 and several large-scale environmental conditions. The increased ΔV24 before landfall in the above two regions is induced by a warmer ocean (e.g., higher sea surface temperatures, maximum potential intensity and TC heat potential) and greater upper-level divergence, with a moister mid-level atmosphere also aiding the ΔV24 increase east of the Philippines. Our study highlights an increasing tendency of ΔV24 before landfall, consistent with trends in ΔV24 over water and over land as found in previous publications.

Building's heat potential on resources in respect to CO2 emissions and primary energy reduction (Case study)

An increased utilization of renewable energy sources for heating and electricity generation is one of the main tasks of the Slovak Republic. The main hypothesis is that heat pumps are very energy-efficient, and therefore environmentally benign, while providing heating and cooling in many applications. Within good conditions, the energy from low-positional heat, in other way unusable, is used to supply the energy for heat pumps. The paper confirms the applicability of such systems for long term (about 25 years). A building in Košice was used as the model of the transformation of a common office object into the character of a green and energy active one with the target programme being a sustainable building with zero balance of the energy from the network. From the comparison of the past and present operation data of the building, it is possible to show the big advantage of the usage of the heat pump water-water to the energy supply system. At favourable technical conditions in a heat supply system, it becomes the most advantageous solution in achieving today’s targets - minimum emission production combined with investment, low operating costs and achieving necessary human thermal comfort. The convenience of the system increases as it can switch between the cooling and heating process according to conditions. For the whole observed period, the energy consumption is reduced by 70%, the primary energy decreased by 69% compared to 1996 and CO2 emissions were reduced by 98%. The simulations of the object were performed and verified based on the measured data.

Simultaneous Occurrence of Tropical Cyclones in the Northern Indian Ocean: Differential Response and Triggering Mechanisms

The northern Indian Ocean, comprising of two marginal seas, the Arabian Sea (AS) and the Bay of Bengal (BoB), is known for the occurrence of tropical cyclones. The simultaneous occurrence of the cyclones Luban in the AS and Titli in the BoB is a rare phenomenon, and, in the present study, we examined their contrasting upper ocean responses and what led to their formation in October 2018. Being a category-2 cyclone, the maximum cooling of sea surface temperature associated with Titli was 1°C higher than that of Luban, a category-1 cyclone. The higher tropical cyclone heat potential in the BoB compared with the AS was one of the reasons why Titli was more intense than Luban. The enhancement of chlorophyll a (Chl-a) and net primary productivity (NPP) by Luban was 2- and 3.7-fold, respectively, while that by Titli was 3- and 5-fold, respectively. Despite this, the magnitudes of both Chl-a and NPP were higher in the AS compared with the BoB. Consistent with physical and biological responses, the CO2 outgassing flux associated with Titli was 12-fold higher in comparison to the pre-cyclone value, while that associated with Luban was 10-fold higher. Unlike the Chl-a and NPP, the magnitude of CO2 flux in the BoB was higher than that in the AS. Although the cyclones Luban and Titli originated simultaneously, their generating mechanisms were quite different. What was common for the genesis of both cyclones was the pre-conditioning of the upper ocean in 2018 by the co-occurrence of El Niño and the positive phase of Indian Ocean dipole along with the cold phase of the Pacific decadal oscillation, all of which worked in tandem and warmed the AS and parts of the BoB. What triggered the genesis of Luban in the AS was the arrival of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) and the mixed Rossby-gravity wave during the first week of October. The genesis of Titli in the BoB was triggered by the eastward propagation of the MJO and the associated enhanced convection from the AS into the region of origin of Titli along with the arrival of the downwelling oceanic Rossby wave.

Opportunities to decarbonize heat in the UK using Urban Wastewater Heat Recovery

By 2050, the UK government plans to create ‘Net zero society’. 1 To meet this ambitious target, the deployment of low carbon technologies is an urgent priority. The low carbon heat recovery technologies such as heat recovery from sewage via heat pump can play an important role. It is based on recovering heat from the sewage that is added by the consumer, used and flushed in the sewer. This technology is currently successfully operating in many cities around the world. In the UK, there is also a rising interest to explore this technology after successful sewage heat recovery demonstration project at Borders College, Galashiels, Scotland. 2 However, further experimental research is needed to build the evidence base, replicate, and de-risk the concept elsewhere in the UK. The Home Energy 4 Tomorrow (HE4T) project at London South Bank University was created to address this evidence gap. This is the fourth article in the series of outputs on sewage heat recovery and presents some results using sewage data from the UK’s capital London. These data are scarce and provide useful information on the variation of flows and temperatures encountered in the sewers of the UK’s capital. Lastly, we discuss the recoverable heat potential along with policy implications for the UK heat strategy. Practical application This work focuses and accentuate that in order to meet climate change targets, substantial improvements can come by heat recovery from the raw (influent) and treated wastewater (effluent from wastewater treatment plant) that is still unexploited in the UK. The estimation presented indicates that there is much theoretical potential in the UK with significant opportunity for future energy and revenue retrieval along with GHGs emission reduction in the longer term to fulfil the ‘net zero’ objective. This work aims to raise awareness and seek support to promote pilot scale studies to help demonstrate technical and economic feasibility in the building industry.

When is a material stable?

This chapter is an introduction to classical thermodynamics that does not assume any knowledge of the subject. The significance of thermodynamic equilibrium in materials is discussed keeping in mind that it is rarely achieved in practice. The concepts of thermodynamic systems, components, work, energy, phase, absolute temperature, heat, potential energy, internal energy, state variables, intensive and extensive variables are introduced and defined. The first and second laws of thermodynamics are introduced. The concept of entropy is discussed in terms of irreversibility, the direction of time and microstates of the system. Configurational entropy is illustrated with the example of a binary alloy. The Helmholtz and Gibbs free energies are introduced and their physical significance is discussed in terms of the conditions for a material to be in equilibrium with its environment. This leads to a discussion of chemical potentials, the Gibbs-Duhem relation for each phase present and the phase rule.