See Drake Landing in Alberta 2012. They used sand storage to heat 52 houses with 97% efficiency. Worked for years, then they ripped it all out and switched to gas.
Toronto downtown office buildings are cooled by lake water in summer, cutting AC electricity by 75% and eliminated AC brown outs, since 2005.
A giant thermal battery storing heat instead of electricity is exactly the kind of engineering we need more of. It won’t replace lithium batteries or solve every energy problem, but district heating is a huge source of emissions in cold countries. Sometimes the smartest climate tech isn’t flashy AI: it’s hot rocks and good physics. 💪😎✌️
And the best part is, it’s not actually complex or expensive technology. Essentially it’s a big box with crushed stone in it.
That’s a huge oversimplification.
Exactly. That’s what makes it so compelling. No scarce minerals, no exotic chemistry, no billion Euro manufacturing plants. Sometimes the best solutions are the simplest ones.
