Forget the logistics of such a project. Let us assume that all buildings used for residence ( home, apartment, prison, dormitory ) go GeoThermal in the same year.
It’s a year later. Since the constant temperature of the dirt is used to control the temperature of the air and water flowing through it, this means that the earth is absorbing excess heat from the air and water in the summer and shedding excess heat from itself in the colder months.
Assuming as we are here that this shift has occurred in a single year, will the earth be unable to handle the influx of heat? Will the ambient temperature rise as a result? If you’re in a very rural area, you’ve got say a few acres between one home and the next. I assume zero impact on the ambient temperature. OTOH, you’re in the middle of a densely populated city. Suddenly all of the heat from the air and water systems are shed into the earth below the structures.
Would GeoThermal still be reliable moving forward? Is the cooling capacity of the earth in comparison to the influx of material moving through that part of the earth that is much hotter able to handle it?
Geothermal energy can’t be practically used in most of the country, given current technology. You may be confusing it with the use of the Earth as a heat sink for temperature regulation. In that case, the net effect would be to bring temperatures closer to the year-round average, i.e., cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.
there is some terminology confusion.
heat held in the earth is geothermal heat.
many will only use the term geothermal to refer to heat due to molten earth heat which is available in certain locations. those will likely refer to heat from solid ground not near those molten sources as ground sourced heat.
ground is frozen in winter if the heat extracted from it is greater than the replenishment from the core.
i think the term usage needs to be defined or be clear from the context in which it is used. you might find some scientists using the term in a more restricted fashion depending on their area of science. the common use by the public or the heating/cooling industry is often the most general use.
People loosely use “geothermal” to designate heat pumps that pump heat out of the ground (lowering its temperature) during the winter and pump the heat into the ground (raising its temperature) during the summer. I guess the net effect depends on the location. Here is Montreal, with cold winters and generally mild summers, I assume the underground temperature would gradually fall. It is still more efficient than just using electricity to make resistive heat.
The proper use of “geothermal energy” should mean the process of generating power–usually electricity–by using deep reservoirs of hot rocks, hot enough to produce steam. Not much of the US is suitable for that.