Here's a technology idea that's bound to fail, along the way wasting resources, researchers' time, and a lot of time. THIS is why we can't have nice things.
Why am I so against this idea? Name me ONE reason I should agree with it. Just one.
What's This Project? Why Cr*p?
The project is a discovered resource under every high-rise building - that parking garages underneath them. These parking garages are heated up by the vehicles parked there, and the heat transfers to the underground soil and water. It's a great resource if it can be tapped, providing enough energy to heat well over 14,000 houses' heating requirements in a city the size of Berlin.
It's a huge bonanza, because extracting that heat from there stops it getting into underground waterways and changing the ecosystems around the buildings, and saves some energy from other sources needing to be generated to heat those 14.6k houses. Well worth spending Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg's time and expertise on.
Except it isn't.
It's fossil-fueled cars that generate the heat. Unless there's something Mr Noethen knows that we don't, and in case he hasn't gotten the memo: WE'RE TRYING TO TAKE ICEVs OFF THE ROADS AND OUT OF THE PARKING GARAGES. THERE'S A TIME LIMIT ON THIS.
What precisely is the point of this project in light of that? They may be able to extract heat energy for another five - ten years but then - either way - the heat stops. Either replaced by EVs, or replaced by a dead silence...
The Crux Of It
People seem to have huge blindspots. Noethen seems to ignore the fact that in a few years the rising number of EVs will reduce all that waste heat, and instead may even require heating those same garages. ICEVs (Internal Combustion Engined Vehicle(s)) produce a lot of waste heat - it's one of the reasons that fossil fuels should have been left in the ground, the sheer amount of waste involved at every stage.
EV's on the other hand don't generate much "waste heat" so a parking garage full of EVs won't produce enough heat to make the project worthwhile. And given that the other push is to have less private vehicle ownership and more public transport, there might be only a quarter of the number of cars in those spaces, anyway.
So why are we contemplating wasting research and development efforts on this when it'll be obsolete before it's perfected? A more cynical person than myself might mention job security but I'm just mentioning that this project is a POS. Anyone working on it will be working in a bullshit job.
Last Thoughts
Mr Noethen would be better off studying ways to make public transport more efficient and clean. It's the way things are going - have to go - will be forced to go - whether we want it or not. The FFC (Fossil Fuel Cartel as I refer to them as) will continue to raise prices as demand for FF dwindles, making driving an increasingly unaffordable option for many. Us, for example. We've already cut down to the bare minimum travel we can justify, rare shopping trips, even fewer medical trips, and staying at home for more than at any time before. It's not going to get cheaper to drive our car, nor easier to justify driving more. That era is behind us.
People who ignore the Big Picture in pursuit of trivial and short-lived projects like this are wasting the resources of the entire planet for a brainfart. It should almost be criminalised.
And for people like my wife and myself, public transport is pretty much out because no one wears masks any more and we're both extremely at risk as proven by our one experience with the virus. We've both always masked up when out, but even that is only useful if using N95 respirators and we can't afford that, or else simple surgical masks but only if everyone's wearing them, and so we've, as mentioned, cut right down. We combine shopping at specialist stores with medical trips, visits to opp shops with the normal shopping trip, and otherwise, we just stay home and live from the pantry and freezer.
Don't worry, pretty soon the world situation will bring most people to the same pass and with us or without us the world'll heal from fossil fuel, lead, PFAS, and warming climate.
Last Last Thought
Lastly, as the article points out, heat pump technology is already well established. Why reinvent the wheel? Why muck around with this at all? Will the heat pumps be re-usable? And if so, will they be re-used once their (hopefully short) period they will be of use before the ICEV extinction?
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