That “or” is fairly surprising to me; its fairly easy to use waste heat from electric generation for district heat. Id expect some modest reduction, but not a total trade-off
Comment on A Geothermal Company Wants to Use New Technology to Heat an Old German Town
poVoq@slrpnk.net 1 week ago
Nice to hear that they started operations now.
I found this bit interesting:
The Geretsried project will ultimately provide, in annual terms, 8.2 megawatts of electricity to the grid or about 64 megawatts of heating to the nearby town.
Emphasis mine… so I would guess they focus on electricity production during the summer months?
Such a close loop system has a bit of a low-grade waste heat problem during summer months though, even when using it to produce electricity. I guess we will see more heated public outdoor swimming pools again if this technology takes off.
silence7@slrpnk.net 1 week ago
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
Geothermal can be used for cooling by using earth as a heat sink. Toronto cools and heats it’s entire downtown core with loops deep in Lake Ontario because a lake of that size is warmer in winter and cooler in summer than ambient. It was not a “green” project, it was simply cheaper.