PIETRE EDIL: European Project GEO4CIVHIC – Most Easy, Efficient and Low-Cost Geothermal Systems for Retrofitting Civil and Historical Buildings

Arch. Leonardo ROSSI & Legal Loredana FODOR

PIETRE EDIL – Chimera’s House, Slanic Street, no 2, Bucharest, Romania

Contact +0040 722 831 336

https://geo4civhic.eu/; www.pietreworks.com

Geothermal power is often considered one of the most important sources of renewable energy, behind solar, wind, and hydro. Geothermal energy is one of the renewable energy sources that the EU is targeting for development and expansion. The EU’s Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan identifies geothermal energy as a key technology for the decarbonization of the heating and cooling sector, which accounts for a significant portion of the EU’s energy consumption.

Many new buildings are being designed with energy efficiency in mind, and geothermal systems can play a significant role in reducing a building’s carbon footprint. While the impact of geothermal pumps on the construction market may not be immediate, they are likely to play an increasingly important role in the construction of energy-efficient and sustainable buildings in the years to come. The percentage of building retrofits that have been completed or are currently underway varies widely by region and country. However, according to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the global retrofit rate for residential and commercial buildings is only around 1% per year.

Currently, the interventions are of shallow nature in most of the buildings. The energy transition initiative of the European Commission is focusing on increasing the retrofitting of the building stock from the current 1% level to 3% and shifting the nature of the interventions towards deep retrofits.

The GEO4CIVHIC project is one further step of many in research and innovation to increase shallow geothermal applications in buildings.

Besides the technical and legislative/standardisation research, the project addresses the introduction of these technologies to the market. The Consortium stakeholders, including more than 40 researchers and specialists, such as architects, drilling machine builders, drillers, HP (heat pumps) suppliers, engineers and academics specialized in shallow geothermal applications, HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems and HPs (heat pumps), continuously provided their expertise during the project.

HVAC systems have gained popularity in recent years due to their energy efficiency and environmentally friendly operation. In terms of the future impact on the market, geothermal pumps are likely to become more prevalent as energy efficiency regulations become more stringent and as consumers become more aware of the benefits of these systems. This increased demand may lead to more competition among manufacturers, driving down prices and making geothermal systems more accessible to a wider range of consumers.

The project, ending November 2023, is demonstrating how geothermal systems used in existing buildings make geothermal energy a viable and cost-competitive source of energy for heating and cooling. In fact, the proposed technical solutions are easily replicable. The challenge of the project is to increase the commercial attractiveness of geothermal energy for heating and cooling and therefore increase the penetration of this renewable energy source transforming the market. A study regarding the regulatory framework with regard to shallow geothermal applications was also elaborated during the development of GEO4CIVHIC.

The results of this project have an important impact on the renewable energy sector increasing the performance of the current geothermal system to retrofitting civic and historical buildings. Moreover, an important impact regards the economic aspects: in the market will be introduced easy-to-install and cost-effective geothermal energy solutions and new tools.

The GEO4CIVHIC key exploitable results (KERs) are apps and products as well as processes and services, like the Vibration-rotation drill head; Compact, versatile drilling machine; Semi-automatic feeder for drilling machine; Co-axial heat exchangers (steel and plastic); Adaptation of Wellpoint; Dual-source heat pumps; Two-stage heat pump for high-temperature terminals; Low mid-term GWP refrigerant heat pump working at low temperature; European drilling maps; Application for on-site drillability assessment; Decision support system; Building Energy Management (BEM) control optimization for RES synergies and an Application to guide the user towards energy savings actions.

Therefore, the innovative geothermal systems developed during the GEO4CIVHIC project make geothermal energy a viable and cost-competitive renewable energy source for heating and cooling in existing and new buildings.

The systems installed in the demo sites proved to be easy to install in built environments, in particular, if different constraints are present, efficient in different contests and geological conditions, and finally capable of giving positive effects on jobs development and environment protection. The project could be able to influence in future the European regulatory framework with regard to shallow geothermal applications, thus supporting the market transformation and the European policy in the domain of renewable energies and heating and cooling efficiency.

All the exploitable outputs, useful for private and public stakeholders, will be available after the end of the project in different public domains as will be specified in the GEO4CIVHIC website.

With the contribution of:

Coordinator Adriana BERNARDI, Alessandro BORTOLIN, Gianluca CADELANO (CNR–ISAC); Sergio BOBBO, Laura FEDELE, Stefano ROSSI, Mauro SCATTOLINI (CNR – ITC); Michele DE CARLI, Angelo ZARRELLA, Giuseppe EMMI, Laura CARNIELETTO, Samantha GRACI, Davide QUAGGIOTTO (UNIPD–DII), Antonio GALGARO, Eloisa DI SIPIO, Giorgia DALLA SANTA, Alberto CARRERA (UNIPD-DG); Javier URCHUEGUIA, Borja BADENES, Hossein JAVADI (UPV); Riccardo PASQUALI, Aisling CUNNINGHAM (GEOSERV); Fabio POLETTO, Andrea TARABOTTI, Enrico PACCHIN (GALLETTI HIREF); Miguel Angel ANTON, Amaia CASTELRUIZ, Sarah NOYE, Beatriz SANCHEZ, Arantza LOPEZ (TECNALIA); Arno ROMANOWSKI, Franziska HELBIG (THYSSEN); Jonathan BAKER, Francesca BAMPA, Matteo ROSATI, Iuliia KOZLOVA, Francesco LIPPARINI, Anh Thi Ngoc NGUYEN, Akemi LAMARCHE VADEL (UNESCO); David BERTERMANN, Oliver SUFT, Ursula BODINUS, Moritz FAUDE, Johannes MULLER (FAU); Robert GAVRILIUC, Dointa-Iuliana CUCUETEANU (RGS); Dimitrios MENDRINOS, Constantine KARYTSAS, Ioannis CHOROPANITIS, Ioannis CHALDEZOS, Spyridon KARYTSAS (CRES); Davide RIGHINI, Elisabetta GARDENGHI (HYDRA); Burkhard SANNER, Erich MANDS, Marc SAUER (UBeG); Jacques VERCRUYSS (GEO-GREEN); Dery TORRES, Hugo GRASSET, Miguel Angel GOMEZ (SOLINTEL); Luciano MULE’STAGNO, Daniel MICALLEF, Ingrid GALEA, Davide POLETTO, Daniele SFERRA, Manuel SCARPA (DLH); Marco BELLIARDI, Linda SOMA, Sebastian PERA, Rodolfo PEREGO (SUPSI)

https://geo4civhic.eu/consortium/

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No 792355.

…citeste articolul integral in Revista Constructiilor nr. 202 – mai 2023, pag. 18-19