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EGEC: Interview on the topic of environmental impacts of geothermal utilisation

EGEC: Interview on the topic of environmental impacts of geothermal utilisation Bagnore 3 plant, Tuscany, Italy (source: Enel Green Power)
Alexander Richter 30 Jan 2018

Following political discussions on the environmental impact of geothermal energy utilisation, EGEC published an interview with the author of a paper discussing these issues, but is often misused to discredit the geothermal sector.

The European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) has released an interesting interview with Riccardo Basosi,  full Professor of Physical Chemistry and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Energy at the University of Siena in Italy. Since 2013, he is also Permanent Italian Representative in the Horizon 2020 Energy Programme and Delegate for the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) in the SET Plan.

In the interview he discusses the current and future state of geothermal energy utilisation.

Together with his collaborator Mirko Bravi, Riccardo Basosi is author of the article “Environmental impact of electricity from selected geothermal Power Plants in Italy“, published in the scientific journal Journal of Cleaner Production in 2014. Since its publication, the article has attracted much attention in the scientific world and in civil society.

Basosi is the author of more than 270 works on physical chemistry and energy issues, focusing on the environmental impact of geothermal energy via Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis.

In this interview, originally published by Geotermia News and now updated, with his agreement, in light of recent developments, he discusses the future of geothermal resources, with a focus on environmental and health sustainability.

The reason for the publication, seems to be a controversy on his paper as it is being used politically to discredit geothermal energy use.

He states that “I am in favour of the development of geothermal energy and I believe that, so far, only an inadequate attention to environmental issues is hindering its development. That is why my research group is still progressing in the analysis and, hopefully, we will be able to submit more LCA papers on this issue in the next future.”

The interview is quite interesting and you can read it here.

Source: EGEC, Dis Tretto Delle Energie Rinnovabili