The importance of managing shallow geothermal energy in urban areas - results from the GeoERA project MUSE

The GeoERA project MUSE “Managing Urban Shallow geothermal Energy” (2018 - 2021) addressed novel management approaches of urban shallow geothermal energy from the point of view of Geological Survey Organisations (GSOs). A consortium of 16 different regional to national GSOs from 15 countries joined forces for developing and testing concepts and products, which support integrative and adaptive management procedures for urban shallow geothermal energy (SGE) use. MUSE investigated the interlinking of resource and limitation of use to mapping in urban areas with management strategies and legal requirements and administrative procedures. The main findings were summarized in methodological catalogues and guidelines, which are publicly available at the project related website (https://geoera.eu/projects/muse3/). In addition, a prototype of a low-scale web data has been developed inside the European Geodata Infrastructure (EGDI) of EuroGeoSurveys (https://www.europe-geology.eu/). MUSE covered 14 pilot areas across Europe at different climatic, hydrogeological as well as socio-economic settings, in which the harmonized and further developed mapping and resource modelling approaches have been tested and evaluated. Managing urban SGE use is still at its beginning in Europe, but the outcomes of MUSE set an important starting point to better integrate this important topic in the portfolio of GSOs, which might lead to new competences and responsibilities of Geological Surveys in the future.