Literature Review: Geothermal Piles

Contents Introduction 3 Background of Geothermal Piles 4 Description of System 4 Construction and Design 4 Construction Process 4 Design Process 5 Design Issues and Deficiencies 5 Uses and Benefits 5 Feasibility and Testing 5 Carbon Accounting 5 Conclusion 5 References 5

Introduction
It has become globally recognised that CO₂ emissions need to be massively reduced, if we are to extend the habitable condition of this planet for future generations. In this vein over the past twenty years there have been massive strides in the development of renewable energy technologies. Geothermal Energy is one of the most promising methods of renewable energy generation in the struggle to find a sufficient replacement for fossil fuels. Geothermal Energy or Ground Thermal Energy can be harnessed in a number of ways, including ground source heat pumping systems integrated into boreholes and wells (Boennec, 2008). Energy Foundations or Thermo-active Ground structures is a broad term encompassing almost all subsurface engineering structure, such as bored or prefabricated piles, retaining walls, base slabs and diaphragm walls (Hemmingway & Long, 2013) for example, that have integrated closed loop ground source heat pumping systems to provide heating capacity in winter time and cooling capacity in summer time for almost any purpose building.
However, the focus of this paper is on a particular method of Geothermal Energy extraction, storage and use; Geothermal Piles, sometimes known as Energy Piles have become increasingly popular over the past 20-30 years, having only really been developed in that period they are a relatively new technology, but in that time their use and construction has sky rocketed, particularly in countries such as Austria and Switzerland where these technologies began being used as early as 1984,