Research

Researcher: Gloria "Andrea" Aguirre
Principal Investigator: Professor Jefferson Tester, Professor Jery Stedinger

Historically, the Appalachian Basin Province in New York State and Pennsylvania has not been carefully explored for geothermal energy in part because the resource was thought to be of modest quality, which would not make it feasible for electricity generation in today's energy markets. However, instead of trying to convert heat into electricity, we can directly use this resource to keep our houses warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and therefore, reduce the use of electricity for our heating and cooling systems.

My research has focused on improving the current assessment of geothermal resources in the eastern U.S. -- specifically in the States of New York and Pennsylvania. My interest is in quantifying the uncertainties associated with data management in resource assessment, and increasing the spatial accuracy and resolution of geothermal maps. The ultimate goal of my research is to highlight areas having high potential and low uncertainties for employing geothermal resources as direct-use for heating and cooling buildings or for combined heat and power (CHP) in areas of mid-to-low temperature regions. The proposed methodology include analysis of statistical and geostatistical techniques to explain the variability of available drill-log data for a region and the uncertainty in geothermal resource maps. The proposed methods have been employed to provide an assessment of the geothermal characteristics of the New York - Pennsylvania region for which drill-log information is available, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 1: Estimate of expected temperatures (°C) at depth of 4.5 km for the Appalachian Basin of New York and Pennsylvania. Individual well locations shown as black diamonds.

Figure 2: Estimate of the geothermal gradient for the Appalachian Basin of New York and Pennsylvania. Individual well locations shown as black diamonds.