United Kingdom, Scotland:

The Hot, Powerful Water Beneath Glasgow (National Geographic)

The city of Glasgow sits above old caverns filled with
hot water. Could it be used to heat homes?
(Photo by Spencer Millsap / National Geographic Staff)

Like most cities in Europe, Glasgow has a rich past. It was a small merchant town before the industrial revolution, and now, with 600,000 people, it’s the largest city in Scotland. We wanted to visit Glasgow for a unique idea that the Scottish government is developing to meet some ambitious energy goals. By 2015, the country wants half its energy to come from renewable sources. Five years after that, the goal is 100 percent.

Part of the answer may be under the streets, down in caverns more than 200 years old that were excavated for coal. As coal mining became too expensive in Glasgow in the 20th century, the mines were abandoned. The pumps that kept water from trickling in were shut off, leaving the tunnels to flood.

Now, below the feet of Glaswegians, there’s are more than a million gallons of water sitting in the caverns, heated by the Earth. No matter how cold it gets in chilly Glasgow during the winter, the water still stays fairly warm by comparison, about 51 degrees F (11 degrees C) near the surface. The deeper you go, the warmer it gets.

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