High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Seasonal thermal energy storage (or STES) is the common umbrella term for several technologies for storing heat or cold for periods for up to several months. The uncommon term inter-seasonal thermal storage is a better descriptor, because the thermal energy can be collected whenever available in one season and be used the opposing season. For example, heat from solar collectors or waste heat from industrial processes or HVAC equipment can be gathered in the hot months and be used during winter for heating. Or cold from winter air can be stored for air conditioning in the summer. An example is the Drake Landing Solar Community in Alberta, Canada. 97% of the year-round heat for the homes is provided by a district heat system that is supplied by solar heat from panels on the garage roofs, enabled by interseasonal heat storage in a cluster of vertical boreholes, 37 metres deep.