As the global community moves towards carbon neutrality, geothermal energy stands out as a crucial, sustainable source of baseload heat and electricity due to its low carbon footprint and reliability. Despite its potential, adopting geothermal energy faces obstacles, including the complexities of subsurface resource assessment, high upfront drilling costs, and lengthy periods for investment recoupment. To perform accurate economic evaluations, addressing these challenges requires a detailed understanding of the Earths geothermal heat flow.
This study tackles a foundational issue by harmonizing U.S. heat flow data with the International Heat Flow Commission (IHFC) standards. We systematically consolidated and analyzed heat flow, temperature, and thermal conductivity data from two major databasesSouthern Methodist University (SMU) and the Association of American State Geologists (AASG)aligning over 66,000 data entries with IHFC guidelines. Through this effort, we aimed to transform the U.S. heat flow database into a resource that meets IHFC global standards, facilitating the creation of a detailed and accessible metadata repository. This repository not only identifies data gaps and documentation inadequacies but also sets the stage for an enhanced understanding of the U.S. geothermal energy potential.
This harmonization process is a significant step towards surmounting the operational hurdles in geothermal energy development and establishing standardized, comparable data protocols from any global location.