I don’t Think a Lot of Italians Know This - Italy’s Geothermal Power Exploits

April 28, 2008 · Filed Under Good Italian Things · Comment 

Many Italian’s criticise their government for not exploiting the abundance of natural resources which exist in Italy to produce energy, and I was inclined to agree with the criticisms until I met Sean the SEO guy of Antezeta.

He told me that Italy houses a thriving and efficient geothermal power generation industry. Wow, was my reaction. I knew nothing about this, even though I knew that Italy has volcanoes and geothermal springs.

Well, now I know that it’s true and Time, none other, wrote about Italy’s geothermal energy exploits back in 2003 entitled ‘Steaming Forward‘. Indeed, to quote the Time article:

The central Italian region happens to be the world’s unrivalled mecca of geothermal energy production.

That is not all, apparently, and again from the Time article, Italy started exploring the potential of geothermal power way back in, wait for it, 1904. A mere nine years later, and Italy had its very own steam-powered electricity generation plant down in the valley known as the Valle del Diavolo (Devil’s Valley). You’d expect things to be quite hot and steamy in a place with that name, now wouldn’t you?

Unlike many Italian initiatives, this one did not die the death and the geothermal power plants now produce 10% of the world’s geothermal power. One more time, in case you missed that: Italy’s geothermal power plants produce 10% of the world’s geothermal power.

The Italian company behind all this energetic geothermal power exploitation is none other than Enel and its appropriately named Green Power division, which is one of the world’s leaders in renewable energy resources. If you read the article you will also discover that Enel is involved in providing its expertise to other geothermal projects around the world, and as far a field as Bolivia. Very impressive stuff, but not nearly as impressive as the Hot-Dry Rock thermal energy project that Enel is cooking up over in France. Read the ‘Steaming Forward‘ article to find out more.

Should you wish to find out yet more about the hot stuff down in Tuscany, then you can read about, or even visit, the Larderello Geothermal Museum and read about how the Larderello project influenced a similar project down in New Zealand (Did you know about this Italian influence Di?) - A Brief History of the Wairakei Geothermal Power Project.

All is not rosy in the world of Italian geothermal energy though, and Tuscan’s are becoming a little uppity about the addition of further geothermal power plants in view of their destruction of the region’s tourist friendly world renown panoramas. Luckily the bods with the brains are looking into ways of creating more ‘landscape friendly’ power production plants.

The odd thing about all this Italian environmentally friendly goodness is that I don’t think may Italian’s know just that has been going on in their backyard for such a long time. Then, of course, there are certain interests who would prefer to see the re-emergence of dodgy nuclear power, and such interests probably do not want their own countrymen to know that real, clean, and efficient alternatives to nuclear energy are available.

What Enel has generated, if you’ll excuse the pun, over the last century definitely qualifies as a Good Italian Thing!

With thanks to Sean Carlos of Antezeta for bringing this to my attention and for supplying the links.

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Small, Furry, and Black

April 21, 2008 · Filed Under Holidays · Comment 

The weekend coming up is a holiday weekend here in Italy, and this means that, weather permitting, the roads may well be rather chaotic. Anyway, despite the probable impending road chaos, a friend of mine has asked me if I want to go with him to the Verdon gorge just across the Italian border in France.

It was supposed to have been an ‘all boys’ long weekend, but my little one - who would have been the third boy, has declared that he’d rather spend the weekend with his mum in Genova. Little old me, instead, was to have remained in Milan dog sitting.

In view of my son’s reluctance to join me, when Mauro, my friend, called me today, I proposed an alternative to our almost five year old energy explosion and asked whether he would mind if the third boy was small, furry, and black. Mauro cottoned on pretty quickly and understood that I was referring to the dog. Despite being a little relucant, he didn’t seem to think that Atman, the dog in question, would cause any problems, especially as we are going to stay in a caravan on a campsite.

Just to be on the safe side, he is emailing the campsite to see if the small black furry one will be well received. I hope so.

As to where we are heading for, the Verdon gorge area is, for want of a better word, and if you’ll excuse the pun - absolutely gorgeous. I’ve been there before and swore I would return, and it looks as though I will, with a bit of luck. Incidentally, the last time I was in the area was shortly before our little one announced his presence. A case of providence in Provence! Or something like that.

The gorge opens into a large, and I believe, artificial, lake called Sainte Croix Lake. It really is an idyllic spot which we came across accidentally while coming the long way round on our return to Italy. It was the best accident I’ve ever had happen to me, and I still remember spotting the lake for the first time and feeling stunned. Magical.

Indeed, on that occasion, we all liked the area so much that we found somewhere to stay and spent a couple of lovely days in the area. And (sorry Pa!) now, with a little luck, I’ll be going back. Except this time I will be armed with my decent digital camera.

Definitely a case of ‘have camera, will use it’.

On the dog front, my fingers are well and truly crossed.

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