A new paper by N. Makasis and collaborators, titled “Finding common ground: A comparative study of city-scale shallow geothermal potential for Cambridge, UK, and Berkeley, USA,” has been published in Applied Energy.
The study develops a framework for evaluating shallow geothermal potential at the city scale, applying the methodology to Cambridge, UK, and Berkeley, USA. The authors show that coordinated provision of heating and cooling, such as through thermal networks, can significantly increase the proportion of city-wide thermal demand that can be met by geothermal energy. In the study, coordinated systems increase the potential contribution from 45% to 70% in Cambridge and from 80% to 100% in Berkeley.
This work highlights the importance of city-scale planning for sustainable heating and cooling and demonstrates how shallow geothermal resources can contribute to urban decarbonization.