Sustainable intensive thermal use of the shallow subsurface-a critical view on the status quo

Borehole Heat Exchangers-Addressing the Application Gap with Groundwater Science

Hydrogeologists and mechanical engineers approach the design of geoexchange systems, and the associated borehole heat exchanger (BHE) fields, in different ways, each focusing on their knowledge areas. While these differences have created a strong research base, with well-published innovations and designs that collectively allow for sustainable systems, industry has not embraced these recent advancements. Despite abundant research demonstrating how complex shallow groundwater flow and temperature conditions can influence BHE design and operation, the low-temperature geothermal industry remains largely fixed on simple analytical codes and assumed uniform ground conditions. Geoexchange system inefficiencies become masked via reduced heat pump performance and increased electricity consumption. Similarly, interactions between BHE fields and infrastructure in urban areas are slow to manifest and are often unrealized due to a lack of field temperature data. While regulations that include hydrogeological factors have been developed in some jurisdictions, they are largely voluntary or rudimentary and can be unapplied in industry. Addressing this application gap may be unreasonable as designing and installing thermally efficient geoexchange systems can put them out of the cost envelope of competing heating and cooling systems. Perhaps for hydrogeologists, the way forward lies in the use of BHE's to facilitate contaminated sites remediation, an area we are familiar with, and one that allows for innovative technologies to reduce cost envelopes. Following that path, hydrogeologists can help improve system efficiencies while fully considering the dynamic nature of advective and thermal transport by groundwater.