Abstract
In view of the disastrous air pollution in the Silesian–Kraków region, reducing emissions from the combustion of conventional fuels is a particularly important issue. Geothermal energy is among the clean and renewable sources of heat that could be used to this end, for instance for recreation or space heating purposes. However, its use in the region is limited, mainly due to insufficient knowledge of the characteristics of the geothermal complexes present. Mesozoic complexes in the region have much smaller energy resources compared to the Polish Lowlands or Podhale, but Paleozoic ones, mainly the Lower Carboniferous and Devonian, offer realistic prospects for energy extraction. The aim of this study was to identify geothermal conditions within the Lower Carboniferous–Devonian complex, primarily in terms of using the waters present there for space heating purposes. The prospective zones identified and indicated during the research are only forecasts, and their actual utility can only be confirmed after new wells have been drilled to verify the actual conditions.
Highlights
According to the ranking compiled by the European Environment Agency (EEA), the ten most polluted cities in Europe in 2020 included six from Poland
The improvement in reservoir parameters could have occurred as a result of dolomitization and karst processes, as in the area of the Spytkowice 200 well in the Upper Silesian Basin where the entire Lower
The Carboniferous–Devonian complex analyzed, which is situated in the part of Silesian–Kraków region, still has not been properly examined in hydrogeological terms
Summary
According to the ranking compiled by the European Environment Agency (EEA), the ten most polluted cities in Europe in 2020 included six from Poland. In the Kraków region, these are Kraków and Nowy Sacz, ̨. The main emission sources, apart from industry and transport, include electricity and heat production. In this respect, the replacement of coal-based sources of energy, which are widely used in the area, with renewable ones would be a important and necessary development. Owing to the direct contact between the Kraków and Silesian regions, for the purposes of assessing their geothermal potential these two regions have been treated jointly in our analysis as the Silesian–Kraków region, but we have limited ourselves to the part which includes four of the aforementioned cities: Katowice, Sosnowiec, Kraków and Nowy Sacz
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