This leads me to believe that you could use low carbon energy that would’ve otherwise been curtailed to transfer thermal energy into the ground for later retrieval? Such that you’re using the ground as a thermal battery?
Absolutely. You can do it on a seasonal basis if you have a large enough thermal mass but you can also do it on a daily basis if you have significant temperature variation throughout the day. Doesn't work so well in very hot or very cold climate but places with extreme daily temperature swing get a lot of benefit from thermal battery arrangements.
An example I find very interesting is this greenhouse built to use the ground as a thermal battery. It's possible, even in moderately cold climates, to drastically reduce (or maybe even eliminate) the use of active heating during winter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acByGuSMALc
I have read about a town insulating a big block of soil and then putting water pipes in it to heat it up over the summer and use the heat in the winter and vice versa.
This leads me to believe that you could use low carbon energy that would’ve otherwise been curtailed to transfer thermal energy into the ground for later retrieval? Such that you’re using the ground as a thermal battery?
Absolutely. You can do it on a seasonal basis if you have a large enough thermal mass but you can also do it on a daily basis if you have significant temperature variation throughout the day. Doesn't work so well in very hot or very cold climate but places with extreme daily temperature swing get a lot of benefit from thermal battery arrangements.
An example I find very interesting is this greenhouse built to use the ground as a thermal battery. It's possible, even in moderately cold climates, to drastically reduce (or maybe even eliminate) the use of active heating during winter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acByGuSMALc
I have read about a town insulating a big block of soil and then putting water pipes in it to heat it up over the summer and use the heat in the winter and vice versa.