enEnglisch
What is geothermal energy?
This is how the heat comes into your home
These three water circuits each form a closed system. No water is transferred from one circuit to the other. Heat is transferred from one water circuit to the other by means of a heat exchanger. The water arrives hot and returns cooled after it has given off its heat.
The water circuit consisting of production and reinjection wells
The water circuit consisting of flow and return pipes in the district heating network
The water circuit of your home heating system
Behind this simple principle lies state-of-the-art high technology. Starting with the two secured boreholes and the two pump systems that pump the hot water from the production borehole up to the heating plant and from the heating plant into the district heating circuit, to the heat exchangers that work permanently and efficiently on both a large scale (in Laufzorn) and a small scale (in your house connection station).
Added to this is the sophisticated measuring technology for monitoring the system in all its parts. A masterpiece of engineering!
Using geothermal energy means protecting the climate!
Using geothermal energy for heating instead of conventional fossil fuels reduces emissions of climate-damaging CO2 by up to 80%.
Unlike most other renewable energies, geothermal energy is a base-load energy that is crisis proof and available practically everywhere around the clock. Consumption costs can be reduced by about half. But geothermal energy is also cost effective and climate friendly for cooling. Throughout Bavaria, all locations are being investigated with regard to favourable techniques for tapping and using geothermal energy. The results will be integrated step by step into the Energy Atlas of Bavaria (www.energieatlas.bayern.de) by 2015 and can be accessed there free of charge by citizens, planners and authorities.