Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenerPeople
Are there any downsides to this? Could heavy usage cause localized cooling of the ground?
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Some of the downsides to geothermal energy use have been discussed here:
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CR4 - Comment: Re: Geothermal Power Generation - The sleeping giant?).
However, I have not encountered the idea of possible localized cooling identified as a potential impact. This may be a question of the scale of the use; however, these systems can be designed for buildings as both heating and cooling, in which case they "use available heat in the winter and put heat back into the ground in the summer"
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Geothermal heat pump - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
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Geothermal Heat Pumps).