Apartment Heated By Underground Commuters

The heat generated by underground commuters in the Parisian metro will help heat a public housing project in the city center, the capital's largest owner of social housing.


The new system will use The calories emitted by passengers, around 100 watts per person, combined with the heat from trains moving along tracks and the underground location of the metro mean that corridor temperatures are 14-20 degrees Celsius all year around.


The project, which is based on geothermal technology, aims to draw heat from subterranean passages and move it to heat exchangers before supplying heating pipes. The system will complement district heating. The new system should slash carbon dioxide emissions by a third compared to using a boiler room connected to district heating,
However, Paris has no plans to implement the human-heating to all other metro stations. This particular project is one of opportunity – a stairwell that happens to connect the building to the Metro is serving as a conduit for the heat – and creating a means to pipe heat from other Metro stations to surrounding buildings is too expensive to be feasible.

"We were lucky to find a passageway that allows us to collect the heat directly from the metro, without having to pay to build one, otherwise it would have been impossible."

I'm personally all for new solutions to save energy and all but I feel just a little bit uncomfortable knowing the air around came from underground commuters. It just gives me the chills. What do you, the readers, think? Would you be okay knowing the air was heated by human bodies or do you condone this idea. Let us know in the comments below.