Editing Eden Project (section)

== Environmental aspects ==
The biomes provide diverse growing conditions, and many plants are on display.

The Eden Project includes [[environmental education]] focusing on the interdependence of plants and people; plants are labelled with their medicinal uses. The massive amounts of water required to create the humid conditions of the Tropical Biome, and to serve the toilet facilities, are all sanitised rain water that would otherwise collect at the bottom of the quarry. The only [[Public utility|mains]] water used is for hand washing and for cooking. The complex also uses Green Tariff Electricity – some of the energy comes from one of the many [[wind turbine]]s in Cornwall, which were among the first in Europe.<!-- any PVsolar? -->

In December 2010 the Eden Project received permission to build a [[geothermal electricity]] plant which will generate approx 4MWe, enough to supply Eden and about 5000 households.<ref name="BBC Geotherm">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-12026753 |title=BBC News – Eden Project geothermal plant plans to go ahead |work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=18 December 2010|date=18 December 2010}}</ref> The project will involve [[geothermal heating]] as well as geothermal electricity. [[Cornwall Council]] and the [[European Union]] came up with the greater part of £16.8m required to start the project. First a well will be sunk nearly 3 miles (4.5&nbsp;km) into the granite crust underneath Eden.

Eden co-founder, Sir [[Tim Smit]] said, "Since we began, Eden has had a dream that the world should be powered by renewable energy. The sun can provide massive solar power and the wind has been harnessed by humankind for thousands of years, but because both are intermittent and battery technology cannot yet store all we need there is a gap. We believe the answer lies beneath our feet in the heat underground that can be accessed by drilling technology that pumps water towards the centre of the Earth and brings it back up superheated to provide us with heat and electricity".<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/14/eden-project-drilling-clean-geothermal-energy Eden Project to begin drilling for clean geothermal energy] ''[[The Guardian]]''</ref>

Drilling began in May 2021,<ref>{{cite web |title=Eden Geothermal Energy Project |url=https://www.edenproject.com/eden-story/behind-the-scenes/eden-geothermal-energy-project |publisher=The Eden Project |access-date=12 June 2021}}</ref> and heating of the biomes began in 2023, using 85°C<!--not suitable for electricity-->.<ref>{{cite web |title=New geothermal energy project comes online in UK, first in 37 years |url=https://reneweconomy.com.au/new-geothermal-energy-project-comes-online-in-uk-first-in-37-years/ |website=RenewEconomy |language=en-AU |date=21 June 2023}}</ref>