[Bedon292]

My understanding is that, while you can do surface loops with enough area, its easier and less disruptive to just do vertical holes for ground loops. At least in Northern Virginia drill ~150ft of well per ton. At 400ft the wells maintain temperature a relatively consistent temperature year round year round.

[theluketaylor]

Drilling down is best for retrofitting existing structures and built environments, but for new neighbourhood development trenching is super cheap since you have to disturb all that dirt anyway. Prep for roads and all the underground services means you have the ground open anyway, might as well run some coolant lines while you're down there.

District heating loops can be done almost for free with greenfield development and it should be highly incentivized to slash the energy required to heat and cool the new structures.