Hacker News Reader

Wouldn't using a lake as a heat/cooling source cause "thermal pollution"? It's probably fine if a couple houses surrounding the lake use it, but if the technology begins mainstream enough to where everyone is using it, it could cause a lot of issues for the flora and fauna of that lake / downstream habitats.

View on HN

I think in the winter it would be fine to move heat from the lake to houses but in the summer it's worse. We're already having problems with lakes being too hot in the summer which results in evaporation, algae build-up and less oxygen. This also promotes invasive species.

Of course, the question is at what scale we can build such systems and if that would raise water temperatures significantly.

I am not a biologist.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com