According to the Secretariat of the European horizon 2020 plan, the geocond project funded by the plan is developing a shallow geothermal system with special potential to increase the energy efficiency of buildings. The project is led by Valencia University of technology in Spain, with the participation of scientific research institutions in Turkey, Israel and other countries.

Geothermal energy, which is often neglected by people, is actually a clean and renewable energy which can be used almost infinitely around human beings. Although sunlight, wind and ocean currents are also infinitely clean and renewable energy, they are not always available. In contrast, geothermal energy is widespread around the world and can be used to directly heat or cool buildings. In order to further improve efficiency and reduce costs, geocond project has successfully reduced the cost of geothermal energy utilization by a quarter with the support of seven countries funded by the European Union. The project is about to enter the final verification stage, and the initial experimental results are exciting.

According to statistics, 75% of the EU's building stock has the problem of low energy utilization efficiency, which means that buildings throughout the EU have great potential in renewable energy development and energy efficiency improvement, and this improvement will promote the green decarbonization of the EU's economy and help to achieve the EU's set goal of coping with global climate change.

Professor buku sane OKAN, coordinator of geocond project and professor of the University of sarbane in Istanbul, Turkey, said that grouting technology is the key to improve the efficiency of geothermal energy utilization, and the material characteristics of fixing the pipeline in the well bore will greatly affect the performance of shallow geothermal energy utilization system. As a result, researchers are working closely to promote the optimization of grouting technology. The project will also develop the highest conductivity borehole filling material to more efficiently transfer energy.

Eiten Kabuzu, head of IMSA, a Turkey cement manufacturer involved in the GEOCOND project, said the improved conductivity would help reduce the cost of the expensive grouting system at present.

Kabuzu further pointed out that the porosity of grouting, the proportion of silica sand and the proportion of water and cement are the key to improve the conductivity. At present, the geocond project is testing different proportioning schemes, using the mixed cement formula of carbon and silica as additives, in order to obtain the optimal thermal conductivity, rheological and deformation characteristics of grouting technology.

Source: Science and Technology Daily