Tapping the sun beneath our feet
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 5 July 2021
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Could geothermal energy provide a big missing piece in the puzzle of how to decarbonise the world economy? And do we need the help of oil companies to make use of it?
Laurence Knight visits the UK's first ever geothermal power project at United Downs in Cornwall. The project's managing director Dr Ryan Law says it could provide the perfect complement to solar and wind energy, while the resident geologist Hazel Farndale explains how and why they have drilled down more than 5km into Cornwall's granite beds.
The last two years have seen a rush of investment and interest in geothermal energy, much of it from the traditional oil and gas fracking industry. Renewable energy journalist David Roberts describes the many innovative new techniques being developed to drill even deeper down into "superhot" rock, including lasers and microwaves.
Programme contains a clip from the film There Will Be Blood, produced by Ghoulardi Film Company and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.
(Picture: 3D rendering of the Earth's core and mantel; Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Business Daily. I'm Lawrence Knight. Today, I'm looking at a zero-carbon energy source that could potentially meet the planet's needs several thousand times over. And no, it's not the sun. |
| 0:15.4 | The core of the Earth is about 6,000 degrees centigrade. Sometimes they call it the sun beneath our feet. |
| 0:22.8 | And so not very far down, it's possible to dig down and make use of that heat. |
| 0:30.0 | Geothermal energy is there for the taking. |
| 0:32.6 | But do we need the oil industry of all people to help us tap into it? |
| 0:36.6 | For this industry to really take off, it needs the kind of capital that the oil industry of all people to help us tap into it. For this industry to really take off, |
| 0:39.0 | it needs the kind of capital that the oil industry has for it to happen at a scale that's meaningful |
| 0:44.3 | across the world. A journey, not quite, to the centre of the earth, here on Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 0:56.0 | It's been a while since I got to go, well, anywhere really. |
| 1:01.0 | So when the chance came up to visit sunny Cornwall, one of the more beautiful parts of the UK, |
| 1:06.3 | I jumped at it. |
| 1:09.7 | Right, well, I've just arrived. |
| 1:13.0 | And there's a rig in the middle of the countryside. |
| 1:16.5 | It's slightly odd side. |
| 1:17.5 | The sort of thing you would imagine seeing on an oil platform in the North Sea. |
| 1:21.6 | Hi, good morning. |
| 1:22.5 | Hi, Hazel. Nice to meet you. |
| 1:23.9 | Nice to meet you. I'm Lawrence. |
| 1:25.4 | Pleasure. |
| 1:25.9 | Morning, I'm Ryan. |
| 1:26.8 | Oh, hi, Ryan. So you're the boss. |
| 1:28.3 | I am the boss. |
... |
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