Environmental Aspects of Geothermal Power Generation - Analysis and Evaluation of Environmental Impacts in the Life Cycle

摘要

Geothermal power generation should make a larger contribution to meet the future energy demand in Germany — according to the current political goals. However, this is based on the precondition that geothermal power can also significantly contribute to the protection of the environment and especially the global climate. On this background the objective of this article is it to analyse this prerequisite. Therefore the overall geothermal life cycle needs to be investigated because emissions harmful to the climate and the environment as well as the use of finite energy resources occur not only during plant operation. They might also be caused due to plant construction anddecons-truction. For geothermal power plants this is important because the reservoir development needs large amounts of energy and material such as fuel to run the drilling rig and steel for the completion of the wells. Based on the methodology of a life cycle assessment it can thereby be shown that geothermal power generation can contribute to environment and climate protection compared to other options for the provision of electricity. Due to the relatively early stage of development of the technology there is also room for improvement in terms of increasing the net-power output through the use of improved system components and a better system design. Another important aspect is to maximise the use of the energy contained in the thermal water such as by providing additionally heat.