The Guardian20 Jun 2026Innovation
Automatically composed with AI from the cited sources
Lanchester Wines has cut heating bills at its Gateshead warehouses by roughly 35%, using heat from a flooded coalmine. The system pumps 19C mine water, extracts heat via a heat pump, and delivers it to maintain 8–10C storage. A new streamlined access agreement with the Mining Remediation Authority, running to 2044, replaced an earlier problematic deal and is now a template for other businesses, potentially opening up use of the UK’s 23,000 flooded coalmines, beneath which an estimated 25% of homes sit.