🏝 Geothermal energy potential
Geothermal energy is the heat from the Earth. It is thermal energy generated and stored on the Earth. It’s clean and sustainable. Resources of geothermal energy range from the shallow ground to hot water and hot rock found a few miles beneath the Earth’s surface, and down even deeper to the extremely high temperatures of molten rock called magma.
Earth temperatures hotter than the sun’s surface are continuously produced inside the Earth by the slow decay of radioactive particles, a process that happens in all rocks.
Geothermal power is cost effective, reliable, sustainable, and environmentally friendly, but has historically been limited to areas near tectonic plate boundaries.
Recent technological advances have expanded the range and size of viable resources, especially for applications such as home heating, opening a potential for widespread exploitation.
Utilization of Geothermal Resources

Earth core Concerning geothermal energy applications, it is important to remember that most thermal waters have either salt deposing or corrosion effects. In both cases, the direct circulation of thermal water in heating systems can cause technical problems. Due to this reason, the use of an intermediary heat exchanger is strongly recommended.
The field of application of the hydrothermal resources depends on many factors such as potential energy, flow, and temperature of thermal water; chemistry; mineralization; content of aggressive components, the presence of consumer heat in the area concerned, and others.
The main three directions of the utilization of geothermal energy: use of hydrothermal resources, energy use in hot dry breeds, and slow-potential using geothermal energy.
Installations for the energy utilization of the geothermal sources include the following main components: a water extraction system. It includes various drilling equipment, pumps and pumps (submersible pumps, airlift) pipeline networks, reservoirs, distribution, and control apparatus, and more.
- Treatment or processing system. Such a system is needed when water contains aggressive components or solids.
- Heating Plant. It includes thermo facilities through which to transmit and transfer heat to consumers. These are heat exchangers, heat pumps, pumps, plumbing, automation, and control equipment, and more.
- Peak boiler and heating systems. Used to cover peak loads of consumers. Through its improved energy performance of the geothermal system and achieves security supply of heat.
Heat Pumps
The shallow ground or upper 3 meters of the Earth’s surface maintains a nearly constant temperature between 10° and 16°C. Geothermal heat pumps can tap into this resource to heat and cool buildings. A geothermal heat pump system consists of a heat pump, an air delivery system (ductwork), and a heat exchanger-a system of pipes buried in the shallow ground near the building. In the winter, the heat pump removes heat from the heat exchanger and pumps it into the indoor air delivery system. In the summer, the process is reversed, and the heat pump moves heat from the indoor air into the heat exchanger. The heat removed from the indoor air during the summer can also be used to provide a free source of hot water.
Heat pumps are designed to provide heat or cold energy for different types of household and industrial needs using renewable energy sources like air, soil, water, and geothermal.
By adding additional energy, the heat pump may increase or decrease the temperature of this energy source to the required level.
The heat pump may also use heat or cold from another source, such as manufacturing process, cooling equipment, or exhaust air from the ventilation of buildings.
Under natural conditions, the heat passes energy from the body with higher temperature to the body with lower temperature, however, are able to change the direction of the heat flow (from the body to a lower temperature to a body with higher temperature) using a relatively small amount of additional energy (electricity, fuel or heat with greater potential temperature).
Heat pumps can be used for heating and cooling. In case of cooling the heat transfer is in the opposite direction – from the system that cools to environment, which has a higher temperature.
Commonly used performance and efficient terminology in connection with cooling and heating systems are:
EER – Energy Efficiency Ratio
An Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) is the ratio of the cooling capacity of an air conditioner in British Thermal Units (BTU) per hour, to the total electrical input (in watts) under certain specified tests. Air conditioner EER ratings higher than 10 are considered most cost effective. The higher the ratio, the less the unit will cost to operate.
SEER – Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio
The term SEER is used to define the average annual cooling efficiency of an air-conditioning or heat pump system. The term SEER is similar to the term EER but is related to a typical (hypothetical) season rather than to a single rated condition.
COP – Coefficient of Performance
This is the ratio of cooling or heating to energy consumption.
Simple this is a number between 2 and 5. The higher is the rate of transformation more effective the use of heat resources air conditioner star rating & EER/COP
After the new energy labeling standards came into force on 1 April 2010, the star rating of air conditioners is determined by the Annual Energy Efficiency Ratio (AEER) for cooling and the Annual Coefficient of Performance (ACOP) for heating. The AEER and ACOP are defined as the annual operative energy output divided by the sum of annual operative and non-operative energy inputs. Non-operative energy input is defined and determined in accordance with the Australian Standard AS/NZS 3823.2:2009. The Star Rating Index is calculated on tested values for energy and capacity, rather than the nameplate or rated values
Star | Cooling | Heating |
AEER | ACOP | |
1 | 2.75 | 2.75 |
2 | 3.25 | 3.25 |
3 | 3.75 | 3.75 |
4 | 4.25 | 4.25 |
5 | 4.75 | 4.75 |