HEAT-EXCHANGER piles, as the main example of energy geostructures, are a sustainable technology for the heating and cooling of buildings. They consist of two main components: the pile foundations of a building, which transfer construction loads to the ground; and a system of heat exchange with the ground. Thermal exchange consists of absorbing and transporting ground thermal energy to buildings via fluid pipes cast in the concrete piles (see figure 1). Practically all kinds of piles (precast or cast-in-place) can be equipped with such a heat-exchanger system. The parallel combination of several heat-exchanger piles - hydraulically connected and linked to a heat pump - allows the extraction of energy from the ground to satisfy the need for heat in the winter and to expel excess heat resulting from air-conditioning in the summer.
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