How is geothermal energy used?
The principal use of geothermal energy in Canada today is to heat and cool residences and commercial and institutional buildings. In the most common application, devices called heat pumps extract near-surface thermal energy from buried pipes or coils and distribute it through the building. The heat pump, which operates on the same principle as the compressor in a refrigerator, can also reverse the process to provide cooling. The Earth Energy Society of Canada estimates there are more than 30,000 residential heat pump installations in Canada and another 5,000 in schools, hospitals, prisons and commercial buildings. There are two main types of geothermal heat pump systems, known as closed loop or open loop. A closed-loop system continuously recirculates a fluid typically a mixture of antifreeze and water in Canada, but potentially plain water or even air. An open-loop system draws in water from an underground aquifer or from a nearby water body and then discharges the water back into the
