| Keywords |
geothermal energy, renewable energy, sustainable utilization, geothermal management, monitoring, reinjection, training, China, Iceland |
| Abstract |
The paper gives a brief overview on the energy situation in the world and the role that renewable energy sources are expected to play in the new century. The position of geothermal energy amongst the renewable energy resources is described. Iceland and China are both in the top league of countries with direct use of geothermal energy. Iceland obtains 55% of the total primary energy use from geothermal, the remainder comes from hydropower (16%), oil (26%), and coal (3%). About 71% of the primary energy of Iceland are thus produced by renewable energy sources. The average figure for the countries of the European Union is 5%. The growth rate of direct use of geothermal in China has been 12% per year during the last decade. Geothermal district heating systems serve 10 million m2 of houses in China and 27 million m2 in Iceland. The largest single district heating system in Iceland serves 17 million m2 (Reykjavik) and in China 1 million m2 (in Tianjin). The total district heating in Tianjin serves 8 million m2. The heating market in the cities of Northern China is enormous and the geothermal resources widespread. Much care is needed, however, to secure sustainable use of the geothermal resources. Most of the geothermal reservoirs in China are in sedimentary formations, and many have very limited recharge. In such cases, reinjection into the reservoir is necessary. In the planning of geothermal heating of the Olympic Village and other parts of Beijing, it is important to take notice of the experience of Tianjin, Tanggu, and several other geothermal fields in sedimentary formations worldwide. Sustainable exploitation of the fields can best be secured with reinjection and adequate reservoir management and monitoring. A total of 51 scientitsts and engineers from 12 provinces, cities, and autonomous regions in China have completed six months specialized geothermal training in Iceland during 1980-2002. Most of them have received specialized training in reservoir engineering (18), chemistry of thermal fluids (11), and geothermal utilization (10). This reflects in which fields Icelandic expertice has been regarded particularly valuable to the geothermal development of China |