Dortmund backs geothermal installations for private households

Geothermal can be used for hot water, winter heating and summer cooling

Yesterday, the City of Dortmund, in Germany, opened a new funding scheme for geothermal energy for private households. As the prices of fossil fuels are increasing, city authorities want to boost the adoption of renewable technologies on a household scale as both a social and a sustainability measure.

While Dortmund City and the wider region do offer a lot of renewable options, many of these are still quite underdeveloped. At the same time, the relatively cheap and green option of geothermal energy can help to reduce energy bills for households in the long term.

Renewable energy - available in every season

The city will fund the subsidy programme for geothermal energy to the tune of 100,000 euros. Homeowners and non-profit organisations, in the meantime, will have the opportunity to apply for the funds starting 12 October.

City officials have said that they can cover up to 15% of the cost of the new installations – heat pumps that use ground energy for heating and hot water. Heat pumps can work in tandem with a roof solar panel installation and deliver massive energy savings on the household level.

At the same time, private households will have the chance to take part in the sustainable energy transition and the democratisation of energy production as people would essentially turn into micro-producers.

The Earth’s crust

Geothermal energy uses heat stored in the Earth’s crust and these systems can be deployed at a small scale and a shallow depth. By using a heat pump, people can use them to both heat and cool their homes with an almost inexhaustible energy supply.

It is also a climate-friendly energy alternative as greenhouse gas emissions are relatively low and it compensates for one of the biggest energy consumers – household heating.