Heating and cooling costs in houses can be reduced by using underground water tanks. This was reported by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
About 12% of total global energy demand is for heating and cooling homes and businesses. As the governments of developed countries set the goal of reducing electricity consumption wherever possible, scientists and engineers are looking for ways to use natural phenomena and objects to achieve the same goals that machines serve. In this context, Eitidi Perera and colleagues proposed using the thermal capacity of groundwater to compensate for daily temperature fluctuations in order to reduce energy consumption for both heating and cooling of residential buildings.
“We found that with this, a very large amount of energy can be stored and stored for a long time,” said the scientist. “As a result, the energy needs for heating and cooling during periods of extreme heat or cold can be met without an additional load on the grid, making the city’s energy infrastructure more flexible.”
The authors propose pumping water from underground reservoirs to the surface, heating in the warm season (or cooling in the cold season), and then pumping it back. Soil is a good insulator and therefore will maintain the water temperature for a long time until the next season. This method should work well in areas with large seasonal temperature changes. At the same time, it is stated that in terms of environmental safety, underground reservoirs where water does not mix with drinking water (wells and wells) should be used very deeply and no chemicals should be added. IT.
In a simulation of the energy consumption of a virtual Chicago neighborhood consisting of 58 two-story residential buildings, it was found that such a system would reduce external energy consumption (from power plants) by about 40% with the same level of heat or cold. in the premises.