Maricopa county is the area of Arizona receiving top priority since it contains over half of the state's population. The county is located entirely within the Basin and Range physiographic region in which geothermal resources are known to occur. Several approaches were taken to match potential users to geothermal resources. One approach involved matching some of the largest facilities in the county to nearby geothermal resources. Other approaches involved identifying industrial processes whose heat requirements are less than the average assessed geothermal reservoir temperature of 110/sup 0/C (230/sup 0/F). Since many of the industries are located on or near geothermal resources, geothermal energy potentially could be adapted to many industrial processes.

The research performed was designed to identify spatial or temporal variation of any atmospheric parameters that might affect the operation of devices utilizing solar energy in the metropolitan Phoenix area. The first part of the research involved the analysis of all available solar and climatic data to determine their validity and comparability. For the standard climatic parameters, few difficulties were encountered, but the task of determining comparability of solar radiation data involved many pitfalls. It was concluded that most of the solar data acquired before January 1977 could not be used for purposes of identifying spatial variability. And, a year and a half of data does not represent a long enough period of time upon which to base sound conclusions about spatial and temporal variability of solar radiation in the metropolitan Phoenix region. The data currently available to us do not indicate any great variation of solar radiation in the metropolitan Phoenix area. However, any meaningful statements about spatial and temporal variability of solar radiation in the metropolitan Phoenix area must await the acquisition of additional data from well-calibrated equipment.