> Heat loss inside of dirt is so incredibly slow it's hard to wrap your head around. One fact that I find helps is the fact that after an entire winter of extremely cold temperatures, you only need to go down 10 ft or so before you hit the average annual temperature. 4 months of winter buffered by 10 ft of ground!
That’s not entirely insulation. Some of the heat flows upward toward the surface during winter and some warmth flows downward during summer.
> If we could just create hot and cold piles or underground wells or something that we could tap into 4 months later when the temperature has changed, you would have completely solved heating and cooling.
Geothermal heating and cooling already exists. It’s semi-popular in some areas. It can be expensive to install depending on your geology and the energy savings might not compensate for that cost for many years. Modern heat pumps are very efficient even if the other side is exposed to normal outdoor air, so digging deep into the earth and risking leaks in the underground system isn’t an easy win.
That’s not entirely insulation. Some of the heat flows upward toward the surface during winter and some warmth flows downward during summer.
> If we could just create hot and cold piles or underground wells or something that we could tap into 4 months later when the temperature has changed, you would have completely solved heating and cooling.
Geothermal heating and cooling already exists. It’s semi-popular in some areas. It can be expensive to install depending on your geology and the energy savings might not compensate for that cost for many years. Modern heat pumps are very efficient even if the other side is exposed to normal outdoor air, so digging deep into the earth and risking leaks in the underground system isn’t an easy win.