<p>In Iraq, there is a high level of energy demand and a lack of electricity, so there is a need for other alternative cooling and heating solutions. The present work comprises analytical, experimental and numerical study to design and validate a vertical ground heat exchanger (GHE) with copper u-tube piping in baghdad city. It is a useful indicator for the geothermal potential of shallow groundwater in hot and arid climates for use in ground source heat pump (GSHP) applications. Analytical sizing with the methodology of IGSHPA showed depth of borehole 10&#xa0;m and length of 20&#xa0;m to satisfy the cooling load of 1.8&#xa0;kW in the test room of 8 m². Experimental results revealed the average heat extraction rate as 79.7W/m at flow rate of 3L/min; water inlet and outlet temperature were 20.8&#xa0;°C and 17&#xa0;°C respectively. The numerical results obtained from ANSYS Fluent were in good agreement with experimental results with maximum deviation of 8.9%; predicted water outlet temperature as 18.3&#xa0;°C vs 17.6&#xa0;°C experimental. The combination of results confirm the feasibility of using a compact vertical GHE system to meet part of the cooling requirements for a building, as the differences in measured performance between the two are less than 4%. The significance of this work is that it is the first systematic study on vertical copper U-tube GHEs in Baghdad, which shows that shallow geothermal resources can be used for sustainable cooling and can help in energy rationalization in electricity deficient areas.</p> Graphical abstract <p>Vertical Copper U-tube GHE for sustainable cooling in Baghdad.</p> <p></p>