Innovative groundwater-based geothermal building heating and cooling HVAC technology to benefit rural communities

The proposed research to advance an innovative groundwater-based geothermal technology will benefit rural communities by addressing climate change and promoting climate-resiliency in rural America. The resulting technological advancements will also provide economic benefits through greater energy independence and reduced costs. The goals of this project are to perform research that will further advance the Darcy Solutions advective geothermal heat pump system and to evaluate the rural communities best suited to benefit from our innovative renewable energy heating and cooling technology. We propose to focus on key areas of opportunity in our technology identified during our Phase I research. Critical components of our systems are the heat exchanger and an intraborhole seal. We will develop the next generation of both of these components and conduct tests in a unique controlled environment and in a field installation. Our technology also relies on in-depth understanding of the subsurface. We propose to develop new borehole characterization methodologies specific to our technology. Using commercially available borehole logging tools we will develop novel methodologies to gather data and develop a model to determine key system design parameters. Evaluating the impact of our technology on rural communities is a key aspect of this project. We will conduct mapping and analysis of the rural communities best suited to benefit from our technology and evaluate the associated environmental and economic benefits. These activities will include energy load analysis of rural applications for our technology and mapping to identify alignment between geologic favorability and key rural applications of groundwater-coupled geothermal.