German town get sinking feeling over energy plan

Bojan Pancevski, The Telegraph 31 mar 08;

A German town is subsiding after authorities drilled underground to harness "green" energy.

Staufen, in the Black Forest, was proud of its innovative geothermal power plan that was supposed to provide environmentally-friendly heating.

But only two weeks after contractors drilled down 460ft to extract heat, large cracks have appeared in buildings as the town centre has subsided about a third of an inch (8mm).

The baroque town hall, the main church, two schools and more than 64 other buildings in the historic centre were severely affected. Experts said buildings in the outer part of the town had risen by a similar amount.

According to Robert Breder, an engineer, the problems began when geothermal probes penetrated an underground reservoir. As the water seeped out and the pressure fell, upper layers of earth started to collapse, causing the surface - and the town - to sink.

Staufen's 8,000 residents are increasingly worried because repairs cannot start until the town stops sinking.

Michael Benitz, the mayor, said: "Will the earth continue to sink? If it stops now, then we will have got away lightly. But if it continues, it could turn out to be quite bad."