法国各地的沉积盆地和多山地区的构造断层几乎都存在地热热水。图1定义了全国的一般地热资源，并确定了在对两个沉积盆地——巴黎盆地和阿基坦盆地——进行地质评估时遇到的温度。这些数据是在1974年和1975年期间积累的，作为调查石油赋存情况的可行性研究的一部分，并通过试验钻孔进行验证。法国已确定的地热资源估计为4.42 x 1011MWh。如上所述，地热活动的地表表现经常出现在该国的几个地区。这些地点已开发的资源。由于很少有地区产生发电所需的大量蒸汽，大部分地热最适合用于低温过程热或区域供暖。 开发低温地热资源的问题是将附近的人口中心与已知的地热资源联系起来，因为长距离运输这种能源的成本是巨大的。1973年的石油禁运为开发假定的地热能和检验地质调查中使用的假设的准确性提供了动力。到目前为止，结果相当不错。引文:俄亥俄州辛辛那提ASHRAE学报第87卷第2部分研讨会

Geothermally heated water occurs virtually throughout France in both sedimentary basins and in tectonic faults located in more mountainous regions. Fig. 1 defines the general geothermal resources throughout the country as well as identifying temperatures encountered during geological evaluation of the two sedimentary basins--the Parisian and the Aquitaine Basins. These data were accumulated during 1974 and 1975 as a part of a feasibility study investigating the occurrence of petroleum, and verified through test boreholes. Identified geothermal resources in France have been estimated at 4.42 x 1011MWh.Surface manifestations of geothermal activity occur frequently in several areas of the country, as noted. Resources in these locations that have been developed.Since few areas produce steam in quantities necessary to generate electricity, the bulk of the geothermal heat is best suited for low temperature process heat or district heating. The problem of developing low temperature geothermal sources is to correlate nearby population centers with known geothermal resources, because the cost of transporting this energy over long distances is significant.The oil embargo of 1973 provided the impetus to exploit the postulated geothermal energy and test the accuracy of the assumptions used in the geologic survey. The results have thus far been quite good.