Browse Definitions :
Definition

geothermal cooling

Geothermal cooling is a type of renewable energy system that moves heat from a building to below the earth’s surface, using the ground like a heatsink.

Systems based on geothermal energy cool in much the same way that they heat, moving hot air through a geothermal heat pump or through air-to-liquid transfer. In the case of cooling, geothermal systems move heat from above ground to the cooler environment 20 feet under the earth's surface.

Water circulated through a geothermal loop carries heat below the earth’s surface, where it is absorbed into the ground; the cooled water is then carried back up to regulate the higher ambient temperature.

Due to the mass of the earth below, geothermal systems can cool even intense sources of heat. Geothermal cooling is used in green data centers and various industrial environments with almost no power use, no carbon production and no water used but that which exists within the closed system.

Another environmentally-friendly element of geothermal systems is the hardware: The below-ground loop can last for generations, and the above ground equipment for decades.

See also: net-zero energy building, off-grid data center, Green Grid

This was last updated in February 2014

Continue Reading About geothermal cooling

Networking
  • remote infrastructure management

    Remote infrastructure management, or RIM, is a comprehensive approach to handling and overseeing an organization's IT ...

  • port address translation (PAT)

    Port address translation (PAT) is a type of network address translation (NAT) that maps a network's private internal IPv4 ...

  • network fabric

    'Network fabric' is a general term used to describe underlying data network infrastructure as a whole.

Security
  • DNS over HTTPS (DoH)

    DNS over HTTPS (DoH) is a relatively new protocol that encrypts domain name system traffic by passing DNS queries through a ...

  • governance, risk and compliance (GRC)

    Governance, risk and compliance (GRC) refers to an organization's strategy for handling the interdependencies among the following...

  • total risk

    Total risk is an assessment that identifies all the risk factors associated with pursuing a specific course of action.

CIO
  • enterprise IT (enterprise-class IT)

    Enterprise-class IT (also known as enterprise-grade, or enterprise IT) is hardware, software and other IT services designed to ...

  • microtargeting

    Microtargeting (also called micro-niche targeting) is a marketing strategy that uses consumer data and demographics to identify ...

  • business process

    A business process is an activity or set of activities that accomplish a specific organizational goal. Business processes should ...

HRSoftware
  • employee onboarding and offboarding

    Employee onboarding involves all the steps needed to get a new employee successfully deployed and productive, while offboarding ...

  • skill-based learning

    Skill-based learning develops students through hands-on practice and real-world application.

  • gamification

    Gamification is a strategy that integrates entertaining and immersive gaming elements into nongame contexts to enhance engagement...

Customer Experience
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365

    Dynamics 365 is a cloud-based portfolio of business applications from Microsoft that are designed to help organizations improve ...

  • Salesforce Commerce Cloud

    Salesforce Commerce Cloud is a cloud-based suite of products that enable e-commerce businesses to set up e-commerce sites, drive ...

  • Salesforce DX

    Salesforce DX, or SFDX, is a set of software development tools that lets developers build, test and ship many kinds of ...

Close