Geothermal Resource Assessment and Sustainable Exploration and Utilization
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Resources and Sustainable Utilization".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 22 August 2026 | Viewed by 15
Special Issue Editors
Interests: geothermal resource; hot dry rock (HDR); enhanced geothermal systems (EGS); heat flow; hydrogeochemistry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Sustainable development requires balancing environmental, economic, and social benefits, with clean energy being key to reducing carbon emissions and achieving green development. Geothermal resources, as stable and renewable clean energy sources, possess unique advantages in energy transition. Current international trends in geothermal development focus on expanding deep geothermal and enhanced geothermal system (EGS) technologies to improve resource utilization and overcome geographical limitations while promoting innovative multi-energy complementary and comprehensive utilization models. However, challenges such as high exploration costs, technical bottlenecks (e.g., high-temperature drilling and reservoir stimulation), financing difficulties, and insufficient policy support remain.
This Special Issue will focus on global geothermal resource development and sustainable development, advancing innovations in deep geothermal and EGS technologies, exploring the role of geothermal energy in energy transition, and analyzing current technical, economic, and policy challenges to foster academic exchange and industry collaboration. We welcome original research and critical or systematic review papers on topics related to sustainable geothermal development, presenting new data or discussing existing data, including, but not limited to, the following:
- Geothermal Resource Potential
- Geothermal measurements and terrestrial heat flow;
- Genetic mechanisms of geothermal systems;
- Geothermal resource distribution and potential assessment.
- Geothermal Exploration and Extraction Technologies
- Advances in deep geothermal and EGS technologies;
- High-temperature drilling, reservoir stimulation, and efficient heat exchange technologies;
- Geothermal power generation and comprehensive utilization (heating, agriculture, industry, etc.);
- Multi-energy complementary systems (geothermal + wind/solar/storage) optimization.
- Economic Viability and Sustainable Development
- Cost control and business models for geothermal projects;
- Assessment of geothermal energy’s emission reduction potential under carbon neutrality goals;
- Monitoring and environmental impact assessment of geothermal resource development.
- Regional Case Studies and Cutting-Edge Applications
- Geothermal development experiences in representative countries/regions;
- Opportunities and challenges in emerging geothermal markets (e.g., Southeast Asia, Africa);
- Applications of geothermal energy in zero-carbon cities and industrial parks.
Prof. Dr. Wenjing Lin
Dr. Xiaoyin Tang
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- geothermal resources
- enhanced geothermal systems (EGS)
- geothermal exploration and drilling
- geothermal applications
- environmental impact assessment
- multi-energy hybrid systems
- geothermal policy and economics
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