The main utilization forms and current developmental status of geothermal energy for building cooling/heating in developing countries

Abstract

Geothermal energy (GE), as an ideal renewable resource for building cooling/heating with stability and abundance in energy supply, has been widely exploited in developing countries. The common utilization forms of GE mainly include the ground source heat pump (GSHP), underground duct system (UDS), and abandoned wells energy (AWE) system. However, there is still a lack of comprehensive overview of the current developmental status of the GSHP, UDS, and AWE systems for building cooling/heating in developing countries. This chapter will be conducted from the following aspects: (1) The literature review and categories of GE utilization in the developing countries, mainly including the latest literature review on GE development and categories of utilization for building cooling/heating. (2) The common utilization of the GSHP system and its current application and development in the developing countries, mainly including the ground-coupled heat pump (GCHP) system and groundwater heat pump (GWHP) system. (3) The common utilization of the UDS system and its current application and development in the developing countries, mainly including the horizontal UDS system, vertical UDS system, and the corresponding coupled system with phase change energy storage and other advanced technologies. (4) The common utilization of the AWE system and its current application and development in the developing countries, mainly including the abandoned oil and gas wells. (5) The existing issues and in-depth analysis on the practical application of GE for building cooling/heating in the developing countries. This chapter can provide some effective guidelines on the various GE utilization forms for building cooling/heating in developing countries.