| Title | 85 Years of Succeful Distirct Heating in Reykjavík, Iceland |
|---|---|
| Authors | Einar GUNNLAUGSSON, Gretar ÍVARSSON and Jakob S. FRIÐRIKSSON |
| Year | 2015 |
| Conference | World Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | district heating, Reykjavik, Iceland |
| Abstract | The use of geothermal water for house heating in Reykjavík stared in 1930 by use of artesian flow of water from shallow drillholes within Reykjavík. This was a great success and more people wanted access to hot water. That led to piping of low temperature water from other geothermal fields in the vicinity of the capital and building of a distribution system. A major development was in late 1950’s when a large drill rig was purchased and pumping started from deep drillholes. This led to lowering of water level in the fields and all hot springs disappeared. A new equilibrium was reached between production and water level. If pumping is now stopped from the low temperature fields the water reaches the surface within one or two years. The fields are therefore used in a sustainable manner. Today three low-temperature fields, Laugarnes, Elliðaaár and Reykir-Reykjahlíð are used for district heating in Reykjavík. When still more water was needed for heating in Reykjavík in late 1980’s the high-temperature fields at Nesjavellir and Hellisheiði were developed where groundwater is heated with geothermal fluid and pumped to the capital area. The district heating utility in Reykjavík serves the capital of Reykjavik and surrounding communities, about 60 % of the total population of Iceland. Geothermal district heating in Reykjavík has had enormous benefits on the environment, economy and living standard of Icelanders. Using geothermal water for heating instead of burning of fossil fuels has saved 100 million tons of CO2 emission. Geothermal heating saves annually 3-4 million tons of CO2 emission compared to emission from burning of oil. This is similar as the total annual CO2 emission from Iceland. Heating cost has followed CPI despite of significantly more expensive technical solutions. Other alternative for heating is to use fossil fuels like coal and oil which have to be imported. The price of heating with geothermal water is low comparing to heating by oil. It has been estimated that cumulative oil savings is 22 billion USD or 5 times the Icelandic treasury budget. During the 85 years of district heating in Reykjavík the citizens have experienced numerous benefits related to the use of geothermal water for house heating. The air-quality is now much better and houses are better which are always kept comfortable warm. This has led to better health of the people and people are better off due to low energy cost. Reykjavík Energy is also operating district heating utilities in 7 other towns outside the capital area with total 15.000 thousand inhabitants and 7 other utilities serving farmhouses and holiday homes. |