The ground source and ground water are taken as the heat source or cooling pond for the ground energy systems to reduce energy costs and to improve the environmental performance of buildings.The design and performance of the ground element of these systems are dominant factors in the capital and operating costs of the system.Some of the design approaches are expounded from a geotechnical perspec tive,and the potential failure modes of ground systems are proposed including the short-term mode,the long-term m...