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To date, China (14 GW), Turkey (3 GW), Iceland (2 GW) and Japan (2 GW) are the leaders in developing deep geothermal energy, heating more and more city districts and greenhouses. In Germany, the city of Munich enjoys inexpensive geothermal heating and has set its sight on using the technology to make the sector climate neutral by 2035.

The German government is also looking at further developing deep geothermal energy to create a nationwide climate-neutral heat supply by 2045.  According to studies, deep geothermal energy could generate around 300 terawatt hours of heat annually from an installed capacity of 70 GW -- more than half the future heat demand of all buildings.

Increasingly, however, geothermal energy is also being harnessed from sources close to the earth's surface using heat pumps. In boreholes just 50 to 400 meters deep, a closed pipe system carries water from the surface to underground and then back, heating it 10 to 20 degrees C. A heat pump then uses this energy to output water at 30 to 70 degrees C, which is then used to heat buildings.

Researchers believe using this shallow geothermal energy in Germany offers heating potential similar to deep geothermal energy. In Germany, these two technologies alone could satisfy the entire future heating demand for buildings.

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