The 75% of the EU building stock is energy inefficient. Buildings hold a large untapped potential for renewables and energy efficiency in order to decarbonise the EU economy, to ensure security of supply and to provide cost savings to EU households and businesses alike. In this context, Shallow Geothermal Energy Systems (SGES) are a stable, reliable and renewable energy source with some key features compared to many other RES: being available everywhere and being capable of providing not only heating, but also cooling with unparalleled efficiency. Amongst SGES, closed loop systems with vertical Borehole Heat Exchangers enjoy the widest deployment in the EU where the total installed number of GSHP units amounts nowadays to about 1,4 million, representing an installed capacity of about 16.500 MWth. Against this background, there is still a need to remove market barriers and gain competitiveness, but also to develop the next generation of geothermal systems with new materials for penetrating further the market of building construction and renovation. Also the area of District Heating and Cooling needs improved heating and cooling storage technologies which could largely benefit from enhanced Underground Thermal Energy Storage (UTES) technologies. By a smart combination of different material solutions under the umbrella of sophisticated engineering, optimization, testing and on-site validation, GEOCOND will develop solutions to increase the thermal performance of the different subsystems configuring an SGES and UTES. An overall cost reduction of about 25% is the overall aim, leading to a substantial gain in competitiveness. GEOCOND, with a unique consortium of Companies and leading Reseach Institutions in the area of SGES and Materials, will focus on four key development areas in a synergeic and system-wide approach: development of new pipe materials, advanced grouting additives and concepts, advanced Phase Change Materials and system-wide simulation and optimization.

The solutions to apply the shallow geothermy will be different in function of the building type, the climate and the geological conditions of the underground, the geothermal system (drilling methodology, GSHE, grouting,..). The main objectives will be : - identify and where missing develop building blocks solutions in drilling (machines and methods), GSHE types, heat pumps and other renewable energy/storage technologies, heating and cooling terminals with the focus on every type of built environment, civil and historical; - generate and demonstrate the most easy to install and cost-effective geothermal energy solutions using and improving existing and new tools. In the area of shallow geothermy of further innovations are needed to provide a pan – European solution base for all the parameter combinations. More efficient borehole heat exchangers and lower cost drilling methodologies/machines adapted to the built environment will be realised as improvement or innovation related to the previous projects. This approach will bring to a easy applicability in the building refurbishment presenting different constrains, to reduce the overall drilling cost in the given geological conditions, will to avoid replacement of heating terminals constructing modular high temperature heat pumps and hence to reduce the deep retrofit costs. The association with tools (DSS, APPs, etc.) will enable to find the best solution for each combination of building type/climate/geology y. Moreover, the design tools will reduce overall engineering costs, avoid design mistakes and form the basis for a major dissemination effort. Application tools will help the users for different practical aspects. Finally to help knowledge dissemination and formations of the future experts a pan – European network of centres of excellence based on past expertise but complemented with the new developments should become instrumental in breaking down the barriers in shallow geothermal energy in building renovation.