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

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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.