Health Impacts of Geothermal Energy Development: An Environmental and Public Health Perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64235/y70en621Keywords:
geothermal energy, public health, environmental health, hydrogen sulfide, socioeconomic impact, health impact assessment, renewable energy developmentAbstract
Geothermal energy development is expanding rapidly across both established geothermal regions and newly developing
markets, driven by the technology’s capacity to deliver low-carbon, dispatchable baseload power. This global expansion,
however, brings geothermal energy’s characteristic environmental and health considerations to an increasingly diverse
range of geologic, climatic, socioeconomic, and regulatory settings, from long-industrialized geothermal districts in
Italy to rapidly scaling geothermal programs in East Africa. This article presents an environmental and public health
perspective on the health impacts of geothermal energy development, synthesizing chronic and acute hydrogen sulfide
exposure epidemiology, environmental and socioeconomic impact assessment from an African development context, and
quantitative environmental risk assessment methodology encompassing seismic, ecological, and economic dimensions
alongside human health. It draws on subsurface reactive transport modeling and reactive heat exchanger engineering
relevant to long-term geothermal reservoir performance, machine learning-enhanced geomechanical characterization
relevant to induced seismicity and wellbore stability risk, and heterogeneous reservoir management principles from
analogous subsurface energy operations, and further considers how AI-driven precision public health, predictive analytics,
and economic impact assessment frameworks developed for national healthcare systems could strengthen environmental
and public health surveillance as geothermal development continues to expand into new regions. The article concludes
by identifying persistent gaps in geographic evidence diversity, socioeconomic impact integration, and cross-national
assessment standardization, and proposes a research agenda for advancing environmental and public health protection
as geothermal energy development scales globally.]
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