Prima valutazione dell'idoneità del sottosuolo sudafricano all'impiego di sistemi geotermici per la climatizzazione

In recent years, the increase in energy requirements, along with a growing awareness in curbing gase missions and pollutants, has promoted a growth of new technologies to save energy and the production of energy from renewable sources. Geothermal energy is the more recent interest in research and experimentation; in particular, the exploitation of thermal energy through systems of geo-exchange, and it stands for versatility and economic feasibility, proposing a large range of technologies, solutions and combinations with various installations of production of energy existing. This work aims to create thematic maps on the suitability of the South African underground for use of low enthalpy geothermal systems to be applied to the air conditioning of buildings. South Africa is a vast country, with geology, hydrology and climate extremely variable. For this reason, in this thesis we have studied the urban areas of Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, because they are the major urban centers of the country. Thematic maps proposals are the result of the combination of geological, hydrological, climatic and thermo-physical parameters to represent the suitability of the undergound to use of low enthalpy geothermal systems that may be in open closed loop. The thematic maps proposals are the result of the combination of geological, hydrological, climatic and thermo-physical parameters to represent the suitability of the underground for use of low enthalpy geothermal systems. we have realized the suitability maps for open and close loop systems of the Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town areas.