Federal government uses geothermal energy for buildings
In new construction and renovation projects in Magglingen BE, the federal government is using geothermal energy for the first time to supply heat to buildings. This is intended to reduce CO2 emissions by 90 percent.
Most of the buildings in the National Sports Center in Magglingen are currently heated with gas, according to a press release from the Federal Office for Buildings and Logistics (BBL). The BBL is currently realizing a number of new construction and renovation projects for the Federal Office for Sport at the sports center. For the first time, the federal government is using geothermal energy to supply heat to buildings. A new district heating network will supply both the existing and the new buildings.
Geothermal energy from a depth of 1,300 meters is used for the heat supply. It is expected that the extracted water has a temperature of 30 to 50 degrees Celsius. For this purpose, two wells are being built. The warm water is pumped up via one, the cooled water is let down again via the other. In between, a heat exchanger on the surface takes the heat from the water and uses it to supply the building.
While the gas supply currently emits 1,300 tonnes of CO2 annually, this should only be 70 tonnes in the future.