Oct 31 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Rory Sweeney The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

For years, it seemed that the underground mining industry that forged this region had also given it its biggest black eye.

Due to the efforts of a few amateur explorers, it's possible that black eye also created the region's golden egg.

Down in the mine tunnels that scarred the land and spoiled the water, the explorers hatched an idea unique to this region that could supply cheap, renewable heating and cooling for consumers from Forest City to Shickshinny.

Jim Sovaiko, a Lackawanna County antique electric-meter restorer with an insatiable interest in mines, has long believed the acidic water that infiltrated the tunnels held untapped energy potential.

The idea has politicians and professionals from various fields buzzing about the prospects. A banner made for Tuesday's demonstration said Northeastern Pennsylvania has re-emerged as "The Clean Energy Capital of the World."

Lackawanna County Commissioner Robert Cordaro discussed the implications of the idea and invited people to tour a small shed heated and cooled exclusively using the earth's own heat.

Two holes, spaced about 70 feet apart, are bored about 150 feet down to the water-filled mineshafts. A pump in one hole pulls water from the shaft, and the water is filtered before it enters a heat exchanger.

Depending on the season, the exchanger unit removes or adds heat to the water to regulate the building's temperature. The water is then pumped back into the mineshaft, along with the filtered-out materials, through the second bore hole.

Cordaro said he had "asked all the bad questions" to ensure it wouldn't "replace one environmental problem with another." The announcement created "happy timing" coming just a week before the election but wasn't politically motivated, he said.

He intends for private industry to undertake process, and said the county's recently created Authority for Innovative Renewable Energy "as a conduit for funds, for research" and for collection of certain fees. Those fees would reduce property taxes, he said.

Deep interest

For years, Sovaiko held onto his idea but couldn't be sure the mine water would be useful unless he actually saw it.

In 2004, he met Chris Murley, an amateur mine explorer who got him access to the source.

"From there, it's just connecting dots" between those with the idea and those who can make it happen, Sovaiko said.

The idea is relatively simple, but it's unique and wouldn't exist without the mining operations. Because the ground is so undermined, the water creates "an enormous storehouse of heat and cool," said J.B. Singh the president of J and P Engineers. The ground insulates the water, keeping it a consistent 55 degrees, and there is "vastly too much water all surrounded by highly heat-conductive rock" to affect the temperature, no matter how many people draw on the resource, he said.

In fact, the high concentration of people in the valley creates a "fortuitous juxtaposition" because they can all tap in with little impact, making the idea more effective.

Costs can be recouped

The engineers have outlined an area in which the holes wouldn't go below 150 feet, making construction of a system cost-effective. Singh said customers could recoup their costs within about four years. The only electricity being used is to run several pumps.

Residential system design could run between $3,000 and $15,000, said Arthur Hunt, of J and P Engineers. Construction was estimated at about $2,500 to $3,000 per 12,000 BTUs.

That compares favorably to construction costs for a gas heat and electric air-conditioning system, he said.

The general idea isn't novel, but its application in this area is. Geothermal heating and cooling systems have been installed for years, but the difference is that water is pumped up and down many bore holes, potentially hundreds, rather than circulated through a vast water body via two holes.

To combat potential deterioration from the water's pollutants, the pipes in the holes are plastic and the heat exchanger is stainless steel. The contaminants would be filtered out by then, so the rest of the system need not be so resistant. The filter would need cleaning about twice a year, Singh said.

Because there is more undermined land in the Wilkes-Barre area, Sovaiko said, it would work even better there. The idea even poses advantages for property values, he said, because the worth of the energy underneath it will now be included.

For Sovaiko, the work has been fun, but not profitable. In fact, he said he has no financial interest in the process.

"It's been like a public service," he said.

He has a different process in mind for exploiting the underground heat without moving the acidic water, but that will wait until the idea evolves, gains acceptance and is used.

"It's like the Wild West. I don't know where it's going to go," he said. "The higher the price of energy goes, the better we look."

But no matter where conversation with Sovaiko goes, it always returns to miners.

"They were down there carving out the coal, and they had no idea they were carving out an energy resource for their children," he said.

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.