Geothermal Energy Use in Europe

Europe is the world leader in geothermal direct use. Geothermal is used in 32 European countries mainly for space heating, bathing and balneotherapy, than for heating greenhouses, aquaculture, and industrial use. In a number of countries the development is based on waters exploited from deep wells. Some countries have been dynamically developing shallow geothermal based on heat pumps. Power generation using geothermal steam takes place in six European states and contributes to ca. 12% to the world total. Recently, the first small binary installations based on ca. 100-120 ̊C waters were launched in Austria and Germany. Except for Iceland, geothermal is not a main player among renewables in Europe, although many regions have prospective resources which can be applied on a wide scale especially for heating. In the geothermal heating sector, Europe has achieved a lot of experience, positive results, and developed modern and reliable technologies. The wider development of renewable energy sources RES (including geothermal) in space heating, as well as power generation and biofuels is foreseen in Europe. This is an indispensable element of the EU energy strategy, i.e. to decrease the dependency of energy imports, to ensure the security of supply and competitive energy prices. The EU and its member states are also the signatories of the Kyoto Protocol and committed to reducing GHG emissions by 8% below the 1990 level during 2008-2012, to introduce the emissions trading scheme, energy efficiency (a 20% energy consumption cut by 2020), and a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020. The proposal of a new EU-Directive addressing all sectors of renewables shall ease their development, including geothermal, it aims at an overall target of a 20% share of RES in energy consumption (electricity, heating and cooling) by 2020.