Abstract

This entry presents some historical background on geothermal energy resources and geothermal energy applications, and comprehensively classifies geothermal resources by energy and exergy. It discusses energetic, environmental, and sustainability aspects of geothermal energy and systems. It also proposes some energetic and exergetic parameters, such as energetic renewability ratio, exergetic renewability ratio, energetic reinjection ratio, exergetic reinjection ratio, distribution cycle exergetic ratio, energy consumptions circuit exergetic ratio, reservoir specific exergy utilization index, and geothermal brine specific exergy utilization index. Performance assessment methodology is given through energy and exergy analyses. A case study is also presented to differentiate the energy and exergy results for practical applications.