Now this is a cool use of solar heating!!

[chasd60]

New Alberta community uses 2300 sq meters of solar thermal collectors to collect heat in the summer for use in the winter.  Heat is stored in a field of 144 boreholes, and distributed by a common heating loop serving the 52 houses.
 
http://www.dlsc.ca/index.htm

[dademt]

New Alberta community uses 2300 sq meters of solar thermal collectors to collect heat in the summer for use in the winter. Heat is stored in a field of 144 boreholes, and distributed by a common heating loop serving the 52 houses.
 
http://www.dlsc.ca/index.htm

That is really interesting.  I have always considered underground homes but my wife is against that so this would be an attractive alternative.

[wavemaker]

That looks pretty neat... i want to see it run for a couple of years though,
 
im in the begining of checking out a solar home here in Phoenix Az.
we only get about 10 days of scattered clouds in a year, im paying the electric company about 250.00 a month and its goin up every year... and i only got  1500 feet of space,  but ive gotten a He** of alot of reading to do before i do anything...
 
 
 
 

That is really interesting. I have always considered underground homes but my wife is against that so this would be an attractive alternative.

[zamboni]

I think that a better energy "storage" solution (overall, considering land, borehole, and recirculating pumps) would be electrolysis -- using the electricity to "split" water into hydrogen and oxygen.  Store the hydrogen and vent the oxygen.

Fuel cells then convert the stored hydrogen to electricity when needed.  No complicated underground pumping system that can lose efficiency due to external temperatures, and a system that can be greatly expanded by adding more solar panels and hydrogen accumulator tanks.

This method is already being exercised on a small-scale US project -- where 100% of the home's annual energy needs are met... including recharging the owner's electric car.