Environmental Effects of Heat Provision from Geothermal Energy in Comparison to Other Sources of Energy

Abstract

Geothermal energy, as well as other renewable sources of energy, can be used instead of fossil fuel energy to meet the given heat demand in Europe and is claimed to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as well as other energy based environmental effects. However, the use of geothermal energy can also cause adverse effects on the environment. The goal of this paper is it to compare heat provision from geothermal energy with the provision of heat from other renewable energy and fossil fuel energy sources. This will be done based on Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) methodology for the potential impacts "finite energy resource consumption", "additional anthropogenic greenhouse effect", "acidification of lakes and rivers" and "human and ecotoxicity (based on SO2 and NOx)". In particular, a comparison of the heat provision from the soil and from groundwater with heat pumps, from hydrothermal resources and from deep wells as well as from biomass, from solar collectors and from light oil and natural gas is investigated. The investigation shows that the heat provision from geothermal energy could contribute considerably to reduce the environmental impact caused by the use of fossil fuel energy to accomplish the same supply task.