CHAPTER 1 Energy and geotechnologies 1.

1 Introduction Since the 18th century energy

consumption and supply have contributed to a marked increase in environmental pollution. Many
are the ways and frameworks that can be accounted for restraining environmental pollution, but a
development that meets human activity needs and progress goals with a limited impact on the
environment can undoubtedly contribute to such a challenge. In the construction sector, national
and international policies, directives and regulations are increasingly requiring, or promoting, the
use of so-called “environmentally friendly” technologies that involve a limited impact on the
environment. This result can be achieved, for example through technologies that supply buildings
and infrastructures with energy drawn from sources that can renew themselves at a sufficient rate
in human time frames and cause low environmental pollution. In a growing number of countries,
new buildings must be constructed with such technologies. This chapter expands on energy
sources and technologies that can sustain human activity needs with a limited impact on the
environment. Among the various energy sources and technologies available, attention is devoted
to geothermal energy (from the Greek roots geo, meaning earth and thermos, meaning heat) and
geotechnologies because of their unique features for addressing the previously mentioned
challenge. With this aim, world anthropogenic development and the energy question are first
expanded: in this context the goal is to describe the interplay between the trend in the world’s
population and the exploitation of energy sources, the related effect on the environment, and the
perspectives that need to be considered in the building sector to contribute to a development of
low environmental impact. Next geothermal energy is addressed: the objective of this part is to
discuss the origin and the features of the considered energy source as well as to establish
acquaintance with the principles that govern the operation of geotechnologies (and associated
technological systems) harvesting this energy source. Then geothermal systems are discussed: in
this context the purpose is to provide a classification of geothermal systems, to describe their
features and uses, and to highlight the technology of energy geostructures. Finally questions and
problems are proposed: the purpose of this part is to fix and test the understanding of the subjects
covered in this chapter by addressing a number of exercises. 3 Analysis and Design of Energy
Geostructures DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-816223-1.00001-1 r 2020 Elsevier Inc. All
rights reserved. 1.2 Anthropogenic development and the energy question 1.2.1 World population
The world population has continued to markedly grow since the 20th century. It currently
numbers 7.6 billion living human individuals and is expected to continue to grow in the next
decades (cf. Fig. 1.1). Different scenarios of world population increase can be considered for the
future, but the median trend currently predicted approximately accounts for up to 9.8 billion living
human individuals by 2050 and 11.2 billion living human individuals by 2100 (United Nations,
2017). 1.2.2 Energy forms and classification of energy sources Energy, which can be appreciated in
various forms, represents a key source to meeting human activity and development, and can be
quantified with different unit measures (cf. Table 1.1). One typical classification of energy sources
is based on their availability in nature. This classification includes primary energy sources and
secondary energy sources. Primary energy sources, such as fossil fuels, mineral fuels, solar energy,
geothermal energy, wind energy, tidal energy and biomass sources, represent an energy form that
has not been subjected to any conversion and is available in nature. Secondary energy sources or
energy carriers, such as electrical energy, refined fuels and synthetic fuels, represent an energy
form that has been transformed from primary energy sources and is not available in nature.
Depending on whether primary energy sources can renew themselves at a sufficient rate in human
time frames or cannot, one further classification can be employed. This Figure 1.1 World
population trend. Data from United Nations, U. N., 2017. World Population Prospects: The 2017
Revision. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, P. D., United Nations, New York. 4 Analysis
and Design of Energy Geostructures classification includes renewable energy sources and
nonrenewable energy sources. Renewable energy sources, such as solar energy, geothermal
energy, wind energy, hydropower energy, tidal energy and biomass sources, can renew
themselves at a sufficient rate in human time frames. Nonrenewable energy sources, such as fossil
fuels (e.g. oil, coal and natural gas) and mineral fuels (e.g. natural uranium), cannot renew
themselves at a sufficient rate in human time frames. 1.2.3 World energy consumption and supply
Various are the uses of energy by human civilisation and associated with these uses there is always
an energy supply. Depending on the stage of the utilisation or production of energy, three
different definitions can be employed to characterise the use of energy (as well as the energy
itself), that is primary energy consumption, final energy consumption and net energy
consumption, and one definition to characterise the supply of energy, that is primary energy
supply (cf. Fig. 1.2). Primary energy consumption refers to the direct use or supply at the source of
energy that has not been subjected to any conversion or transformation process. This energy is
often termed primary energy or crude energy as well. In most cases, however, energy cannot be
used without conversion or transformation processes and for this reason it is refined in the so-
called final energy. The final energy consumption represents the total energy consumed by end
users (e.g. the building sector, the industry sector, etc.), excluding the energy that is used by the
energy sector itself. In the context of constructions, this term is usually associated with the
amount of energy supplied that is necessary to run the generator of Table 1.1 Some energy-
related unit measures. Name Symbol Description Joule J 1 Joule is equal to the energy transferred
to an object when a force of 1 Newton acts on that object in the direction of its motion through a
distance of 1 m (1 J 5 1 Nm) Basic energy unit of the metric system (SI) Calorie cal 1 calorie is the
amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1C, from 14.5C to 15.5C
The calorie can be defined in terms of the Joule (thermochemical calorie: 1 cal 5 4.184 J) Watt-
hour Wh The standard unit of electricity production and consumption (1 Wh 5 3.6 3 103 J) Tonne
of oil equivalent toe 1 toe is the amount of energy released by burning one ton of crude oil (1 toe
5 41.868 GJ), that is an energy equivalence for oil Watt W or J/s A derived unit of power that
expresses 1 Joule per second and can be used to quantify the rate of energy transfer Energy and
geotechnologies 5 cold and heat. From the final energy to the net or effective energy that is
eventually used, however, there are in many instances various losses associated with the use of
devices for further refining, storing, or delivering energy. These losses comprise (1) generation
losses, (2) storage losses, (3) distribution losses and (4) output losses and characterise the so-
called net energy. The net energy consumption represents the consumption of energy in its
desired form, usually drawn from a consuming device. In the context of constructions this term is
usually associated with the thermal energy to be delivered to, or extracted from, a conditioned
space by a heating or cooling system to maintain the set-point temperature during a given period
of time for the comfort of the occupants. Often the consumption of final energy is termed,
although inappropriately, energy demand. In reality, energy consumption and demand are two
related, yet different, variables. The former refers to the quantity of energy added to or removed
from a space, whereas the latter is the immediate rate of that consumption, that is the power at a
particular instant in time. For this reason, final energy consumption is measured in kilowatt-hours,
whereas the energy demand, that is the rate of that consumption, is measured in kilowatts. In the
European Union and in developed countries such as the United States, three dominant end users
have characterised the final energy consumption over recent decades: the building sector, the
industry sector and the transportation sector. In 2015 these three sectors contributed to the total
final energy consumption of the European Union by 25.4%, 25.3% and 33.1%, respectively (cf. Fig.
1.3) (Eurostat, 2017). In Switzerland, as in many other developed countries, approximately
60%85% of the final energy consumption associated with the building sector is used for space
conditioning and the production of domestic hot water (Kemmler et al., 2013) (cf. Fig. 1.4). Along
with the aforementioned statistics, the world final energy consumption and primary energy supply
continue to rise to meet the increase in world population and the expansion of economies (cf. Figs
1.5 and 1.6) (International Energy Agency, 2016c). Figure 1.2 Energy definitions and pathway of
supply and consumption. 6 Analysis and Design of Energy Geostructures Historically, the global
energy market has been, and is still, dominated by the combustion of fossil fuels, that is
nonrenewable primary energy sources. In recent years (since the mid20th century), fossil fuels
have met at least 60% of the final energy consumption and at least 80% of the primary energy
supply (cf. Figs 1.5 and 1.6). Figure 1.3 Final energy consumption shares by end users in the
European Union in 2015. Data from Eurostat, 2017, Europe in Figures—Eurostat Yearbook. Office
for Official Publications. Figure 1.4 Final energy consumption in the Swiss building sector in 2012.
Data from Kemmler, A., Piégsa, A., Ley, A., Keller, M., Jakob, M., Catenazzi, G., 2013. Analysis of
the Swiss Energy Consumption According to the End Use. Swiss Federal Office of Energy, Bern.
Energy and geotechnologies 7 1.2.4 Consequences The historical use of nonrenewable energy
sources, often unregulated, poorly regulated, inefficient, or overexploited, in contrast to
renewable energy sources, has caused, without being limited to, two consequences: (1) the
increase in greenhouse gas emissions and (2) the depletion of nonrenewable energy sources.
Figure 1.5 World final energy consumption from 2000 to 2014. Data from International Energy
Agency, I. E. A., 2016c. Key World Energy Statistics. International Energy Agency, Paris. Figure 1.6
World primary energy supply from 2000 to 2014. Data from International Energy Agency, I. E. A.,
2016c. Key World Energy Statistics. International Energy Agency, Paris. 8 Analysis and Design of
Energy Geostructures Greenhouse gas emissions are caused to a substantial amount by the
combustion of fossil fuels. Global dependence on fossil fuels has led to the release of over 1100 Gt
of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere since the mid-19th century to 2007 (Sims et al.,
2007), an amount that continued to increase up to a first stabilisation in 2014 (International
Energy Agency, 2016a). Over 90% of energy-related emissions are CO2 from fossil fuel combustion
(cf. Fig. 1.7), of which approximately 10% is associated with the building sector, both in developed
and developing countries (International Energy Agency, 2015) (cf. Fig. 1.8). Two problems
associated with fossil fuel combustion and greenhouse gas emissions are that they represent the
most important source of air (and environment) pollutant emissions deriving from anthropogenic
development (International Energy Agency, 2016b) and are considered to be the dominant cause
of the observed climate change and global warming since the mid-20th century (IPCC, 2013). One
problem associated with the depletion of nonrenewable energy sources is that, within
approximately a century, resorting to these sources will no longer be technically and economically
convenient in many cases (IPCC, 2013).