The question for Longyearbyen’s future energy supply still needs to be answered. The local coal power plant is now getting old, and the local CO2 emissions per person are currently amongst the highest in the world, emitting about 65,000 tons of CO2 per year – for just above 2,000 inhabitants.
Now Malte Jochmann, senior geologist of the Norwegian mining company Store Norske, has brought geothermal energy into the discussion. Svalbard is permafrost area, but below the permafrost, the geothermal gradient is steeper than in Norway. The reason is possible the shorter distance to the middle atlantic ridge.
Warm springs are known from the Bockfjord-area on the north coast of Spitsbergen, but the warm springs there are small compared to those for example in Iceland. Bockfjord is too far from the settlements to use that area technically (and it is a National Park). But there is the possibility that a geothermal heat reservoir exists also in central Spitsbergen, where Longyearbyen is, at depths that may be usable. Especially if carbonate layers are found where hot waters tend to circulate in karst caves. The potential of geothermal heat won’t compare to Iceland, but it is not about building aluminium plants, but to supply a place as small as Longyeabyen with just above 2,000 people with warmth and possibly electricity.
The existence of suitable rocks and heat reservoirs in reachable depths is still to be proven, and scientifically, economically and politically it is still a long way to go until geothermal heat may or may not be used in Longyearbyen.
Warm spring in Bockfjord: Trollkjeldane (“troll springs”). These springs are 8 km inland and larger than Jotunkjeldane, which are close to the coast of Bockfjord.
This and other publishing products of the Spitsbergen publishing house in the Spitsbergen-Shop.
Norwegens arktischer Norden (1): Spitzbergen
Photobook: Norway's arctic islands. The text in this book is German. [shop url="https://shop.spitzbergen.de/en/polar-books/70-norwegens-arktischer-norden-1-aerial-arctic-9783937903262.html"] ← Back
Lofoten, Jan Mayen and Spitsbergen from the air - Photobook: Norway's arctic islands. The text in this book is German, but there is very little text, so I am sure that you will enjoy it regardless which languages you read (or not).
The companion book for the Svalbardhytter poster. The poster visualises the diversity of Spitsbergen‘s huts and their stories in a range of Arctic landscapes. The book tells the stories of the huts in three languages.
Comprehensive guidebook about Spitsbergen. Background (wildlife, plants, geology, history etc.), practical information including travelling seasons, how to travel, description of settlements, routes and regions.
Join an exciting journey with dog, skis and tent through the wintery wastes of East Greenland! We were five guys and a dog when we started in Ittoqqortoormiit, the northernmost one of two settlements on Greenland’s east coast.
12 postcards which come in a beautifully designed tray. Beautiful images from South Georgia across Antarctica from the Antarctic Peninsula to the Ross Sea and up to Macquarie Island and Campbell Island.