Conventional vehicles that use internal combustion engines, such as transport trucks, either require heat from a running engine to power a heating system of the vehicle to supply heat during the winter or require mechanical energy generated by a running engine to turn a compressor in order to power an air-conditioning system in order to supply cooling during the summer. Truck drivers often leave their engines running while the truck is parked for extended periods of time in order to supply this heating or cooling while taking a break or sleeping overnight. Since trucks typically have diesel engines, this prolonged idling results in significant amounts of pollutants being released into the atmosphere. Additionally, many jurisdictions are now implementing anti-idling legislation, which prohibits trucks from being left to idle and leaves the drivers with few options for heating or cooling while taking a break inside the cab.
It would be desirable to have a system and method for capturing and storing thermal energy as auxiliary power in a vehicle that addresses at least some of the shortcomings of the conventional systems.