International Workshop on Thermo-active Geotechnical Systems for Near-Surface Geothermal Energy : From Research To Practice January 10-12, 2013, Lausanne, Switzerland

该奖项支持2013年1月10日至12日在瑞士洛桑举行的为期2.5天的国际研讨会，目的是探索和推进近地表地热热能热力岩土工程系统作为可持续岩土工程实践的使用。热力岩土系统是一种利用地面储热能力高效加热和冷却建筑物的新方法。研讨会的地点是瑞士洛桑联邦理工学院。研讨会将以讨论论坛的形式举行，而不是在以演讲为主的会议形式下举行。大约五分之一的活动将包括概述演示，其余时间将用于分组会议和讨论，以解决有争议的问题和探索这项技术的未来应用。举办这一国际讲习班的主要动机是讨论和确定实施热源岩土系统所涉及的技术和非技术障碍。这次研讨会将作为一个协同讨论平台，将来自学术界的研究人员、从业人员以及行业和公共机构的代表聚集在一起，以确定和解决紧迫的问题。参与者将来自美国、欧盟、瑞士和日本。来自不同背景的与会者的多样化组合将确保交流将是跨学科和多层面的，而来自世界不同地区的与会者将有助于传播成功实施这项技术的其他国家的实践经验。研讨会将讨论的技术问题包括：1)与热力基础系统设计有关的土壤-结构相互作用问题；2)这些系统的测试、评估和无损验证；3)密集城市环境中近地表地热能的使用；4)热力基础的未来应用；对更广泛地实施这些系统至关重要的非技术问题是：1)建筑规范和绿色认证问题；2)环境影响计算；3)成本效益分析；3)生命周期成本分析；长期节约。总的来说，这些讨论主题将有助于在讲习班参与者之间开展协同对话，并为讨论和综合这一领域未来研究方向的想法创造一个平台。研讨会的主要成果将是一系列技术文件以及总结讨论结果的综合文件，以及研讨会网站。这次研讨会的重点是这种可再生能源技术。这比岩土工程具有深远的影响，因为这项创新技术的更广泛实施减少了能源使用。利用能源基础，最终可以提供比传统能源更安全、更稳定的能源，为电力系统提供更高的能源安全性，并减少有害的二氧化碳排放。这次研讨会的成果将对岩土工程专业产生广泛的影响，这些专业涉及使用基础系统来加热和冷却结构。该研讨会有可能导致在美国和全球范围内更广泛地使用能源基金会。

This award supports a 2.5 day international workshop in Lausanne, Switzerland, January 10-12, 2013 for the purpose of exploring and advancing the use of Thermo-active Geotechnical Systems for Near-surface Geothermal Energy as a sustainable geotechnical engineering practice. Thermo-active geotechnical systems are a novel approach to exploit the heat storage capacity of the ground for efficient heating and cooling of structures. The venue of the workshop is École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. The workshop will be held in a discussion forum format rather than in a conference style setting dominated by presentations. About one-fifth of the event will consist of overview presentations and rest of the time will be devoted to breakout sessions and discussions on resolving contentious issues and exploring future applications of this technology. The main motivation for this international workshop is to discuss and identify the technical and non-technical barriers involved in the implementation of thermo-active geotechnical systems. This workshop will serve as a synergistic discussion platform to bring together researchers from the academia, practitioners, and industry and public agencies representatives, to identify and address the pressing issues. Participants will come from the US, EU, Switzerland and Japan. The diverse mix of attendees from different backgrounds will ensure that communication will be cross-disciplinary and multi-dimensional, while the attendees from different parts of the world will help in transferring practical experience from other countries which have successfully implemented this technology. The technical issues to be addressed in the workshop will include 1) Soil-structure interaction issues related to the design of thermo-active foundation systems, 2) Testing, evaluation and non-destructive verification of these systems, 3) Use of near-surface geothermal energy in dense urban environments with congested and closely spaced foundations, and 4) Future applications of thermo-active foundations; bridge-deck deicing, thermal treatment etc. The non-technical issues that are critical for the wider implementations of these systems are 1) Building code and green-certification issues 2) Environmental impact calculations, 3) Cost-benefit analysis, life-cycle cost analysis, long-term savings. Collectively, these discussion themes will help develop a synergistic dialogue between the workshop participants and create a platform for the discussion and synthesis of ideas for the future direction of research in this field. The main outcome of this workshop will be a series of technical papers along with a synthesis document summarizing the results of the discussion sessions, and a workshop website. This workshop focuses on this renewable energy technology. This has far reaching impacts than geotechnical engineering through reductions in energy use with wider implementation of this innovative technology. Utilizing energy foundations can ultimately provide a more secure and stable energy source than conventional energy sources, higher energy security for the electric power system, and reduce harmful CO2 emissions. The results of this workshop will have broad impact on the geotechnical engineering profession related to the use of foundation systems for heating and cooling of structures. The workshop has the potential to result in increased use of energy foundations on a broad scale in the United States and globally.