this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2024
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You need something to move the heat away, like water or air. Having something solid that just absorbs will reach its heat capacity pretty quick.
I don't know, but given that ground-source heat pumps are one of the most efficient ways to heat a building, and this suggestion is just exactly that in reverse (pumping the heat into the ground instead of out of it), I'd imagine that it will not just "reach its heat capacity". The heat would flow away just as it flows to a heat pump. If the entire earth reaches its heat capacity I think we'd have problems.
Deep Geothermal goes deeeeeepppp to where there is a heat source that is replenished.
Shallow geothermal pulls heat where there is no replenishment, and you have to run it in reverse (use it as an AC in the summer) to swap out the heat. You can't only pull heat out for shallow geothermal. You may be able to for a time, but also remember that heating for a house is pretty small overall.
It's not the entire earth that is the heat sink, it's a relatively short distance from the pipe. We don't get the massive heat from the molten core at the surface.