Can brownfield land be reused for ground source heating to alleviate fuel poverty?

Brownfield land is a legacy of industrial retraction in many towns and cities worldwide, where land remains vacant long after it has gone into disuse, and is often a barrier to redevelopment. Using this land for renewable energy generation is one option that can support development of a low carbon economy and also stimulate regeneration. Fuel poverty is an increasingly pertinent social issue due to rising energy costs. This is particularly true for space heating, accounting for nearly half of all the energy consumed in North European climates. Addressing fuel poverty has become a key consideration in Scotland's internationally leading renewables policy. This article considers how deployment of renewables on brownfield land can be targeted towards addressing heat poverty in social housing. Using Glasgow as a case study, the quantity of available derelict land is calculated, then the spatial association of social housing and urban brownfield land is demonstrated. Technology options for meeting household heat requirements from brownfield land are presented, including scenarios using vertical or horizontal ground source heat pumps. The results suggest that the available urban land could easily supply the needs of all households in fuel poverty, if this scale of investment and non-market intervention was justified.