IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v16y2023i19p6774-d1245838.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing the Environmental Sustainability of Deep Geothermal Heat Plants

Author

Listed:
  • Lilli Maar

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Applied Sciences Mannheim, 68163 Mannheim, Germany)

  • Stefan Seifermann

    (Department of Engineering and Management, University of Applied Sciences Mannheim, 68163 Mannheim, Germany)

Abstract

The energy sector is responsible for a large share of climate-damaging emissions. Regarding the decarbonization of the energy sector, deep geothermal energy is considered to have high potential, particularly in the area of heat supply. In order to gauge the extent to which heat use from deep geothermal energy can make a positive contribution to climate protection, deep geothermal systems should be appraised using an environmental sustainability assessment. Although electricity generation from deep geothermal power plants has been evaluated in many ways in the literature with respect to its sustainability, no such sustainability evaluations of pure geothermal heat plants have been conducted so far. In order to close this research gap, this study presents a systematic approach that makes it possible to apply suitable sustainability criteria across the individual life stages of deep geothermal heat plants based on life-cycle assessment (LCA) guidelines. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the systematic approach presented here, a planned geothermal heat plant in the Upper Rhine Valley, Germany, serves as an example. Based on the estimated plant parameters and the predicted total heat yield, it was possible to determine, for example, the “energy returned on energy invested” (EROI) of the plant, which was approximately 34, and the specific CO 2 emissions, which were approximately 5.6 g/kWh th .

Suggested Citation

  • Lilli Maar & Stefan Seifermann, 2023. "Assessing the Environmental Sustainability of Deep Geothermal Heat Plants," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-19, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:19:p:6774-:d:1245838
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/19/6774/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/19/6774/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vitantonio Colucci & Giampaolo Manfrida & Barbara Mendecka & Lorenzo Talluri & Claudio Zuffi, 2021. "LCA and Exergo-Environmental Evaluation of a Combined Heat and Power Double-Flash Geothermal Power Plant," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-23, February.
    2. Frick, Stephanie & Kaltschmitt, Martin & Schröder, Gerd, 2010. "Life cycle assessment of geothermal binary power plants using enhanced low-temperature reservoirs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 2281-2294.
    3. Maria Laura Parisi & Melanie Douziech & Lorenzo Tosti & Paula Pérez-López & Barbara Mendecka & Sergio Ulgiati & Daniele Fiaschi & Giampaolo Manfrida & Isabelle Blanc, 2020. "Definition of LCA Guidelines in the Geothermal Sector to Enhance Result Comparability," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-18, July.
    4. Atlason, R.S. & Unnthorsson, R., 2013. "Hot water production improves the energy return on investment of geothermal power plants," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 273-280.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. María Dolores Mainar-Toledo & Maryori Díaz-Ramírez & Snorri J. Egilsson & Claudio Zuffi & Giampaolo Manfrida & Héctor Leiva, 2023. "Environmental Impact Assessment of Nesjavellir Geothermal Power Plant for Heat and Electricity Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-21, September.
    2. Maryori Díaz-Ramírez & Snorri Jokull & Claudio Zuffi & María Dolores Mainar-Toledo & Giampaolo Manfrida, 2023. "Environmental Assessment of Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plant based on Exergy Allocation Factors for Heat and Electricity Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-17, April.
    3. Daniele Fiaschi & Giampaolo Manfrida & Barbara Mendecka & Lorenzo Tosti & Maria Laura Parisi, 2021. "A Comparison of Different Approaches for Assessing Energy Outputs of Combined Heat and Power Geothermal Plants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-13, April.
    4. Vaccari, Marco & Pannocchia, Gabriele & Tognotti, Leonardo & Paci, Marco, 2023. "Rigorous simulation of geothermal power plants to evaluate environmental performance of alternative configurations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 471-483.
    5. Gkousis, Spiros & Welkenhuysen, Kris & Compernolle, Tine, 2022. "Deep geothermal energy extraction, a review on environmental hotspots with focus on geo-technical site conditions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    6. Menberg, Kathrin & Heberle, Florian & Uhrmann, Hannah & Bott, Christoph & Grünäugl, Sebastian & Brüggemann, Dieter & Bayer, Peter, 2023. "Environmental impact of cogeneration in binary geothermal plants," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    7. Vitantonio Colucci & Giampaolo Manfrida & Barbara Mendecka & Lorenzo Talluri & Claudio Zuffi, 2021. "LCA and Exergo-Environmental Evaluation of a Combined Heat and Power Double-Flash Geothermal Power Plant," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-23, February.
    8. Gkousis, Spiros & Thomassen, Gwenny & Welkenhuysen, Kris & Compernolle, Tine, 2022. "Dynamic life cycle assessment of geothermal heat production from medium enthalpy hydrothermal resources," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).
    9. Solano-Olivares, K. & Santoyo, E. & Santoyo-Castelazo, E., 2024. "Integrated sustainability assessment framework for geothermal energy technologies: A literature review and a new proposal of sustainability indicators for Mexico," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    10. Abolhosseini, Shahrouz & Heshmati, Almas & Altmann, Jörn, 2014. "A Review of Renewable Energy Supply and Energy Efficiency Technologies," IZA Discussion Papers 8145, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Lohse, Christiane, 2018. "Environmental impact by hydrogeothermal energy generation in low-enthalpy regions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 128(PB), pages 509-519.
    12. Zhaoyang Kong & Xiucheng Dong & Bo Xu & Rui Li & Qiang Yin & Cuifang Song, 2015. "EROI Analysis for Direct Coal Liquefaction without and with CCS: The Case of the Shenhua DCL Project in China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-22, January.
    13. Yang, Ruiyue & Hong, Chunyang & Liu, Wei & Wu, Xiaoguang & Wang, Tianyu & Huang, Zhongwei, 2021. "Non-contaminating cryogenic fluid access to high-temperature resources: Liquid nitrogen fracturing in a lab-scale Enhanced Geothermal System," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(P1), pages 125-138.
    14. Shaikh, Mohammad A. & Kucukvar, Murat & Onat, Nuri Cihat & Kirkil, Gokhan, 2017. "A framework for water and carbon footprint analysis of national electricity production scenarios," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 406-421.
    15. Esteves, Ana Filipa & Santos, Francisca Maria & Magalhães Pires, José Carlos, 2019. "Carbon dioxide as geothermal working fluid: An overview," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1-1.
    16. Wiraditma Prananta & Ida Kubiszewski, 2021. "Assessment of Indonesia’s Future Renewable Energy Plan: A Meta-Analysis of Biofuel Energy Return on Investment (EROI)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-15, May.
    17. Daniilidis, Alexandros & Herber, Rien, 2017. "Salt intrusions providing a new geothermal exploration target for higher energy recovery at shallower depths," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 658-670.
    18. Jalilinasrabady, Saeid & Tanaka, Toshiaki & Itoi, Ryuichi & Goto, Hiroki, 2021. "Numerical simulation and production prediction assessment of Takigami geothermal reservoir," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    19. Salehi, Mohammad & Khajehpour, Hossein & Saboohi, Yadollah, 2020. "Extended Energy Return on Investment of multiproduct energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    20. Liu, Wen & Ramirez, Andrea, 2017. "State of the art review of the environmental assessment and risks of underground geo-energy resources exploitation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 628-644.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:19:p:6774-:d:1245838. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.