The transformative potential of geothermal heating in the U.S. energy market: A regional study of New York and Pennsylvania

Reber, Timothy; Beckers, Koenraad F.; Tester, Jefferson W.

doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2014.03.004

Cited by 33 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Ultimately, financing monetizes this litany of costs and benefits, comparing them to other alternatives (Huddlestone-Holmes et al, 2014;Reber et al, 2014). Rates and investment interest may fluctuate over time, but this will fundamentally change only with a predictable power delivery record and a consistent and supportive regulatory environment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Project permitting, finance, and economics for geothermal power generation

Moore

2016

Geothermal Power Generation

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Project permitting, finance, and economics for geothermal power generation

Moore

2016

Geothermal Power Generation

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“…Direct use geothermal systems recover more energy from the extracted fluid than the straight conversion of heat to electricity, with direct use converting 90% versus hydrothermal systems converting 10% of its resources to electricity [18,19]. A Lindal diagram of the required temperatures show that low geothermal systems would provide adequate source of heat for a large portion of the applications in residential, commercial and some industrial operations [19]. Fox et al (2011) determined that nearly one third of the United States energy consumption is based on processes that operate at temperatures below 260 °C.…”

Section: Gwementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of that thermal demand, the residential sector makes up the majority of consumption at 55%, which the remaining portion is due to the industrial (24%) and commercial (21%) sectors. Space and water heating alone accounts for 38% of the thermal energy consumption in the residential and commercial sectors [9,19].…”

Section: Gwementioning

confidence: 99%

“…At these high temperatures, liquid is boiled by sudden pressure drop, and the resulting steam sent to a turbine to generate electricity, with remaining hot water further flashed at progressively lower pressures and temperatures, to obtain more steam. Lindal diagram illustrating the temperature requirements for potential industrial applications of direct thermal use of geothermal energy [19].…”

Section: Gwementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In low thermal gradient regions, the cost for drilling to the necessary depth to reach required temperatures can make the project unfeasible. Estimation of the temperature-at-depth uses heat flow, which is dependent on factors including geothermal gradient and thermal conductivities [19,20]. Thermal conductivity is a function of depth and position, and is calculated as a weighted average based on thicknesses of lithographic layers.…”

Section: Rock Thermal Conductivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Utilization Risk Assessment and Thermal Conductivity Testing for the Low Temperature Geothermal Play Fairway Analysis for the Appalachian Basin

Welcker¹

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In order to alleviate the large carbon footprint of fossil fuel technology, renewable energy has begun to gain momentum with consumers and industries alike. Geothermal energy has the benefit of providing a reliable energy source with only 5% of the carbon dioxide emissions of fossil fuels, as well as provide a means of carbon sequestration. The application for this energy source is highly dependent on several factors, including reservoir characteristics, temperature, and regional demand. High temperature systems (>150 °C) are best suited for electricity production, while low and medium temperature reservoirs (<90 °C and 90-150 °C, respectively) may be better suited for direct use applications, such as manufacturing purposes or district heating and cooling for commercial and residential areas. Enhanced, or engineered, geothermal systems (EGS) may provide a means to take advantage of geothermal reservoirs with lower available temperatures. To determine the efficacy of EGS technology in eastern United States, a play fairway analysis was performed on the Appalachian basin. Risk factors examined include thermal resource quality, natural reservoir quality, induced seismicity, and utilization opportunities, which is a focus of this work. Levelized cost of heat, or LCOH, was used to provide a comparison of factors, such as combination of capital costs, operation and maintenance costs, and performance and fuel costs. To determine LCOH, commercial, residential, and infrastructure data were collected from the US Census and fed into GEOPHIRES, a program that uses surface piping, heat exchange equipment (residential and/or commercial), operations, upfront capital cost, and maintenance costs over the lifetime of a 30year project. The impact of industrial demand on LCOH, such as process heating and cooling and HVAC, for dairy, wood drying, and paper mills were also examined. Heat flow estimates are equally important in the selection of potential geothermal sites. Estimation of the temperature-at-depth uses heat flow, which is dependent on factors including geothermal gradient and thermal conductivities. Thermal conductivity is a function of depth and position, and for some models is calculated as a weighted average based on thicknesses of lithographic layers. Obtaining actual thermal conductivities can be challenging, and often require the use of databases to predict the geographic variation. For this project, thermal conductivities from Marion County well #244 rock cuttings were found using a portable electronic divided bar (PEDB) system and were compared to COSUNA estimates to assess the current model method.

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