Hungary is famous for its plentiful geothermal springs across the nation. It has around 1,300, with 125 in the capital city of Budapest alone. While that number is far from the world leader Japan’s 3,000 hot springs, it is outstanding in Europe, only matched by Türkiye—and none in the European Union. Many tourists come to visit sights such as the Széchenyi and Gellért Thermal Baths in Budapest, or similar facilities outside the capital, such as the Spa Castel Gyula or the Thermal Lake of Hévíz.
However, there could be uses other than attracting tourists for these hot gifts from the Earth: namely, renewable energy.
Szeged, a city of around 162,000 people in Southern Hungary, has been making unique efforts to utilize geothermal energy. Tamás Medgyes, the Chief Operations Manager at the District Heating Company of Szeged, talked to the Lyon, France-based news site Euronews.
As he told the outlet,
the municipal government’s goal is to reduce the city’s gas consumption by 50 per cent.
The Szeged geothermal power station has 27 wells, 16 heating plants, and 250 kilometres of distribution pipes, according to the article.
‘Szeged gets quite bad air in the wintertime. The largest CO2 emitter in the city is the district heating system. This company has operated on natural gas for 40 years. In the last two or three years we have been switching this gas-based system to geothermal,’ Medgyes elaborated on the goals and motivations of the ambitious project.
Geothermal springs were first used as an energy source in France in the 15th century. However, it remains one of the lesser-used renewable energy sources today, with only 0.5 per cent of renewables-based installed capacity for electricity generation being geothermal.
As for bathing, humans, and even other primates, have been using hot springs for thousands of years.
Hungary is now trying to lead the way in the utilization of geothermal springs as an energy source.
The country’s right-wing government has not been averse towards environmental issues, unlike in other countries. Former President János Áder from the governing conservative Fidesz party has been an avid green advocate for years, for example, even hosting his own podcast dedicated to the topic.
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