Oops - an unfortunate series of events - Geothermal Energy
Hat tip to
Grouchy Old Cripple for this link.
From the
UK Telegraph:
Geothermal probe sinks German city
A German town is subsiding after authorities drilled underground in order to harness green energy.
Staufen, in the Black Forest, was proud of its innovative geothermal power plan that was supposed to provide environmentally-friendly heating.
But only two weeks after contractors drilled down 460ft to extract heat from below the earth, large cracks have appeared in buildings as the town centre subsided about a third of an inch (8mm).
The baroque Town Hall, the main church, two schools and over 64 other buildings in the historic centre were severely affected. Experts said buildings in the outer part of the town had risen by a similar amount.
According to Robert Breder, an engineer, the problems began when geothermal probes penetrated an underground reservoir. As the water seeped out and the pressure fell, upper layers of earth started to collapse, causing the surface - and the town - to sink.
Staufen's 8,000 residents are increasingly worried because repair work on the buildings cannot start until the town stops sinking.
Sheesh - you think they could have hired a few geologists before starting to drill. It's not without precedence either:
A similar experiment triggered a series of earthquakes near Basel in Switzerland last year.
Not nice to fool Mother Nature...
Posted by DaveH at April 2, 2008 8:56 PM