Germany has set to work on an enormous thermos to help heat its citizen’s homes this winter while stepping away from its reliance on Russia’s fossil fuel industry.
Germany’s huge heat tower
The thermos tower, which stands at almost 150 feet and can store an astounding 15 million gallons of water, is another symbol of Europe’s shift into alternative energy. The water is kept at a near-boiling temperature around the clock by using spare renewable electricity from wind and solar farms and will be ready for use this winter.
“It’s a huge thermos that helps us store the heat when we don’t need it,” explains Tanja Wielgoss, head of the heating unit at German utility company Vattenfall, to the Associated Press. “And then we can release it when we need to use it.”
How many homes can it heat?
For now, the thermos can handle a good deal of Berlin’s hot water needs in the summer, and 10 percent of its hot water needs in the winter.
Although impressive, the tower won’t be able to fulfill every Berliner’s needs on its own. However, its construction has inspired more heat thermoses to be erected in other European countries, like the Netherlands.
Hopefully, countries like the US that are also at the hands of extreme weather events spurred onwards by a broken climate will follow suit.
