Abandoned coal mines will soon serve a new purpose that will benefit the environment thanks to an initiative from the Biden administration.
In May, it was announced that $450 million from the Inflation Reduction and Infrastructure laws will be used toward clean energy projects, like solar farms, at former coal mines.
“In a less predictable climate and in a warmer world, this opens up an opportunity for turning this legacy, this liability, into a resource,” Natalie Kruse-Daniels, a professor and director of the Environmental Studies Program at Ohio University, told CNBC.
In addition to solar farms, the coal mines provide a new opportunity to use geothermal energy. CNBC explained that the water found at abandoned coal mines typically contains heat from below the Earth’s surface. Drilling holes can bring that heat to the surface to be passed through heat exchanges and heat pumps in buildings and…
