This Small Canadian Town Is Turning Abandoned Coal Mines Into a Massive Clean Energy Network

This Small Canadian Town Is Turning Abandoned Coal Mines Into a Massive Clean Energy Network

Flooded coal mines beneath Cumberland, British Columbia are being studied as the foundation for a town-wide geothermal system. Local leaders and university researchers are testing whether water pooled in the abandoned tunnels can provide low-carbon heating and cooling. For more than eight decades, coal mining defined Cumberland’s economy. Beginning in 1888, roughly 16 million tonnes of bituminous coal were extracted from the Comox Valley, poweri…