Assessment of three types of shallow geothermal resources and ground-source heat-pump applications in provincial capitals in the Yangtze River Basin, China

The evaluation of geothermal resources and ground-source heat-pump systems has been performed for a wide variety of individual buildings and cities. However, the assessment of ground-source heat-pump systems for multiple cities with different climatic and ground conditions has rarely been performed. The feasibility of ground-source heat-pump installation strongly depends on the local climatic, geological and geothermal conditions. This paper first investigates the shallow geothermal resources, including the thermal resources of open reservoirs (lakes and rivers, surface water), underground aquifers and geological materials. Then, the potential for ground-source heat-pump system applications in eleven provincial capitals in the Yangtze River Basin in China is assessed. The Yangtze River Basin covers a wide range of territory with dramatically different climates and geological conditions. The potential of ground-source heat-pump systems is evaluated by modeling the energy consumption of a certain conventional building with defined thermal and geometric characteristics under various climatic conditions. The results indicate that three ground-source heat-pump systems, namely, surface-water heat pumps, groundwater-source heat pumps and ground-coupled heat pumps, show different potentials among the investigated cities. The findings from this study are meant to optimize the high capital costs of ground-source heat-pump systems in the study area.