Have you ever noticed how asphalt streets stay warm into the evening after the sun has set, or how snow lingers in the shade of fences and buildings while melting everywhere else the sun shines? This is a phenomenon called thermal storage.
This ebb and flow of energy invites us to ask: Can we harness these repeating energy cycles for a useful purpose? Can we improve our lives and our communities by working with nature instead of against it?
Energy Consciousness in Modern Engineering and Construction
Energy consciousness is an important concept in today’s engineering and construction environment. The era of endless smokestacks, unclean coal, and excessive fuel consumption is over.
Renewable energy technology is rising to combat centuries of unrestricted fossil fuel use. Advanced architecture/engineering/construction (AEC) firms are increasingly leveraging the principles of nature, like thermal storage, to design more efficient facilities. Additionally, the federal government has incentivized many types of qualifying thermal storage technology with tax credit programs as part of national carbon reduction efforts.
Harnessing Thermal Storage for Seasonal Heating
Thermal storage technology significantly contributes to forward-thinking outcomes by storing energy generated at one time for later use. While many types of materials can store heat energy, the most common thermal storage systems utilize water.
For example, a district seasonal heating system can heat and store a large mass of water in an insulated tank during the summer when solar heat is abundant. With high-quality insulation, this stored heat can last months, even remaining useable into winter. By using summer’s free solar energy to heat homes or buildings in the winter, an AEC designer can avoid burning natural gas or other fuels during the high-demand winter season when fuel costs are at a premium. By leveraging nature’s principles, facility designers can reduce carbon emissions and conserve energy in their practices.
Molten Salt Reactors: Efficient Thermal Storage for Power Generation
There are many types of thermal storage systems in use around the world. Molten salt reactors, for example, use solar energy to heat industrial salts that retain heat for days, creating steam to drive power turbines. When located in an optimal site, systems like these can provide a reliable power supply for communities of homes and even industrial sectors.
Optimizing Cooling Efficiency
In addition to heat, it is also possible to store the “cold” from nights or cold seasons for use during warmer times. Running the air conditioning too much in the summer can drive up the electricity bill. This puts strain on the electrical grid and requires power plants to consume extra fuel. A typical commercial building is often unoccupied at night. By using thermal storage tanks that generate ice during the cooler nights when electrical demand is minimal, the next day’s air conditioning demand can be greatly reduced. The chart below shows a typical cooling load demand for a building in summer.
Creating ice at night also maximizes the efficiency of the cooling equipment, as it does not consume extra energy to generate ice. Investing in this technology can add up to substantial savings over time, more potent when coupled with incentivized tax programs that reduce up-front costs.
Thermal Storage Applications Beyond Comfort Cooling and Heating
These thermal storage techniques aren’t limited to comfort cooling and heating. For example, in a food and beverage processing system, a tank of liquid may need to be cooled down within a critical timeframe. Using ice storage, a small, efficient chiller can generate ice over time and store it in tanks. When cooling is needed, instead of starting up massive cooling systems, the ice can be used to meet the sudden demand.
Thermal Storage for the Future
As we continue to face environmental challenges and rising energy costs, thermal storage technologies offer a promising path forward. When we embrace energy consciousness and thermal storage in modern construction and engineering, we’re building a more sustainable future by working with the cyclical patterns of our natural world. Whether it’s storing heat from the summer sun for winter heating, using molten salts for power generation, or generating ice at night to cool buildings during the day, thermal storage systems provide versatile and effective ways to improve energy efficiency. The growing adoption of these technologies signals a significant shift toward smarter, cleaner energy solutions that benefit our communities and our planet.
