Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Barriers and enablers to dual use of transportation tunnels for heating and cooling decarbonisation

Barns, David LU orcid ; Loveridge, Fleur ; Sainati, Tristano ; Edmonds, Zoë ; Duffy, William Patrick and Hitchcock, Alistair (2026) In Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Civil Engineering
Abstract
The potential to source thermal energy from buried infrastructure such as tunnels and metro stations may offer significant potential to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of heating and cooling, and reduce the costs associated with dedicated drilling for traditional ground-sourced systems. However, this remains a niche approach with few commercial schemes globally, partly due to high initial costs, long payback periods, technical uncertainties and the need to minimise construction risk and delays. To help address these challenges, the energy resource potential, technical and economic barriers and ways of overcoming them were examined for tunnels beneath Manchester and Crewe that were proposed as part of the HS2 Phase 2b railway... (More)
The potential to source thermal energy from buried infrastructure such as tunnels and metro stations may offer significant potential to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of heating and cooling, and reduce the costs associated with dedicated drilling for traditional ground-sourced systems. However, this remains a niche approach with few commercial schemes globally, partly due to high initial costs, long payback periods, technical uncertainties and the need to minimise construction risk and delays. To help address these challenges, the energy resource potential, technical and economic barriers and ways of overcoming them were examined for tunnels beneath Manchester and Crewe that were proposed as part of the HS2 Phase 2b railway construction. A worthwhile thermal resource was established, along with enthusiasm for use of the energy by the infrastructure developer and third parties in the vicinity. The economic case is set out, which establishes financial viability but with significant uncertainty based on future market conditions. This demonstrates the need for a supportive future policy environment to encourage the uptake of all available heat sources. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
in
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Civil Engineering
article number
2500042
pages
14 pages
publisher
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN
0965-089X
DOI
10.1680/jcien.25.00042
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
58ac9a2c-bb2e-481e-8470-23b4bb5d2f74
date added to LUP
2026-04-20 14:15:31
date last changed
2026-05-26 13:46:10
@article{58ac9a2c-bb2e-481e-8470-23b4bb5d2f74,
  abstract     = {{The potential to source thermal energy from buried infrastructure such as tunnels and metro stations may offer significant potential to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of heating and cooling, and reduce the costs associated with dedicated drilling for traditional ground-sourced systems. However, this remains a niche approach with few commercial schemes globally, partly due to high initial costs, long payback periods, technical uncertainties and the need to minimise construction risk and delays. To help address these challenges, the energy resource potential, technical and economic barriers and ways of overcoming them were examined for tunnels beneath Manchester and Crewe that were proposed as part of the HS2 Phase 2b railway construction. A worthwhile thermal resource was established, along with enthusiasm for use of the energy by the infrastructure developer and third parties in the vicinity. The economic case is set out, which establishes financial viability but with significant uncertainty based on future market conditions. This demonstrates the need for a supportive future policy environment to encourage the uptake of all available heat sources.}},
  author       = {{Barns, David and Loveridge, Fleur and Sainati, Tristano and Edmonds, Zoë and Duffy, William Patrick and Hitchcock, Alistair}},
  issn         = {{0965-089X}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Emerald Group Publishing Limited}},
  series       = {{Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Civil Engineering}},
  title        = {{Barriers and enablers to dual use of transportation tunnels for heating and cooling decarbonisation}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/jcien.25.00042}},
  doi          = {{10.1680/jcien.25.00042}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}