Overview of Prospects and Potential for Development of Geothermal Energy for Direct Use in California. Final Report

摘要

Estimates of the quantity of geothermal energy that could be developed for direct use and of the associated capital costs were prepared. To rank the prospective areas for a direct use resource exploration program, a simple scoring system was used. Areas in California were assigned points on the basis of the presence of surface evidence of resources and potential users. The energy use levels that could be achieved in the near-term by exploiting geothermal energy to supply heating demands for both space conditioning and industrial process heating were assessed. Major applications for space conditioning and industrial process heating were determined and then co-located in the prospective resource zones. Energy requirements for each application were analyzed and the amount of fossil energy potentially displaced by using geothermal energy was determined. (ERA citation 07:003864)