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Thewhazzupdude The problem with tidal power is that the power density is not very high and the environment is extremely hostile so the running costs are high in comparison to the output. In countries like the UK and US the quickest and cheapest short term fix would probably be to retrofit buildings with proper insulation. Another would be to require that all new buildings be covered with solar panels.
Some companies in Norway are doing this themselves. Here's a picture of the roof of Asko's distribution centre in Oslo
It's from 2022 and has 8 000 panels. Asko is a distributor of groceries including chilled and frozen. The solar panels are used for cooling and for charging fork lift trucks as well as the lorries that do that actual distribution. They expect to provide 15% of their total energy use from solar. If that can be done at 60° north latitude just think how much more effective it would be further south.
The problem with geothermal is that it is capital intensive because in most places you need to drill quite deep to reach hot enough rock to make it practical to use geothermal to generate electricity because you need high temperatures.
You can get heat for space heating from what is called shallow geothermal or more commonly ground source heat pumps but you can't really use that in densely populated areas unless you can arrange to pump heat back in in the summer.
There is actually quite a lot of activity related to ground source heat, the Swiss and the Swedes are quite keen and there are also a fewinstallations in Norway. There will be a conference in Bern next month on the subject: https://www.connect4geothermal.ch/
There is a good, but old, overview paper on Sintef's website describing experience in various countries: https://www.sintef.no/globalassets/project/annex29/gshp_status_20031.pdf
The largest installation in Europe in 2003 was in fact in the Nydalen suburb of Oslo:
In the Norwegian capital of Oslo, 180 hard rock wells will be essential in the provision of heating and cooling to a building of nearly 200,000 m 2 in area. The project is the largest of its kind in Europe.An energy station will supply the emerging building stock in Nydalen with heating and cooling. 14 By using heat pumps and geothermal wells, heat can be both collected from and stored in the ground. In the summer, when there is a need for cooling, heat is pumped into the ground. Bedrock temperature may then be increased from the usual temperature of 8°C up to 25°C. During the winter, this is used for heating purposes. The output of the system is 9 MW heating and 7.5 MW cooling, and annual energy purchase will be reduced by an anticipated 60–70%, compared to heating with electricity, oil or gas. The combined heating and cooling ensures high utilization of the energy station.
The geothermal energy storage represents the most significant aspect of the project. Each of the 180 wells has a depth of 200 metres, providing 4–10 kW of heat transfer capacity. The total thermal storage volume of the bedrock is 1.8 million m3 , located below the building. Plastic tubes in closed circuits are used for heat transfer.
Total cost of the project is NKr 60 million (€7.5 million). This is about NKr 17 million (€2 million) more than the cost of a conventional
solution,that is,one without the energy wells and the collector system. However, with an anticipated reduction in annual energy purchases of close to NKr 4 million (€500,000), the project will be profitable. The project has received a total financial support of NKr 11 million (€1.5 million) from the government owned entity Enova SF and the Energy Fund of the Municipality of Oslo. Start-up of the energy station began in April 2003, with about half of the wells operational. The remaining wells will most probably be connected to the station in 2004.
