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I've been thinking a lot about heat pumps again lately and other ways to make houses more energy efficient. I don't have any credentials other than reading a lot of wikipedia articles so take everything I say with a grain of salt.
Harnessing the Versatility of Heat Pumps:
So I was thinking of all the heating and cooling applications in a home and how almost all of them either use a lot of power to generate heat or create heat as a by product. And then I thought hey, heat pumps can output both hot and cold and the same time. And because they are moving heat from one place to another and aren't converting electricity directly into heat via resistance they are fairly efficient. So, what if we just had one big heat pump that could pump hot and cold water around the house. For example the two biggest energy hogs in most homes are heating water and running the AC. So why aren't we using the heat from the AC to heat our water and visa versa? The fridge and freezer need to be cold and the oven, dishwasher and clothes dryer need to be hot. Gee I wonder how we can solve this dilemma. The oven would probably still need resistance heating to get up to hotter temperatures but maybe it's efficiency could be boosted a bit.
Exploring Innovative Applications:
I've heard of commercial dryers that use heat pump technology. Basically they act like a giant dehumidifier and are much more efficient but also take a lot longer. I've also seen a commercial heat pump water heater that cools down the room that it sits in, which is usually the garage or the basement. Talk about a waste of some nice refreshing cool air.
Innovative Energy Storage Solutions:
I was also thinking about a system using two water tanks. One for hot and one for cold. This would act as an energy storage device that could be charged up at night for example and then shut off during peak hours to avoid grid failure. Then I started thinking about sterling engines and geothermal heat pumps and solar heating. Then I discovered flow batteries and went down yet another rabbit hole. So many new innovations on older technologies that have so much potential for people to live off the grid. It's an exciting time that's for sure.
The Path to Optimized Energy Usage:
There are endless possibilities for us to optimize our energy usage yet most houses in America are hopelessly expensive to heat and cool. Kind of frustrating how capitalism works sometimes but at least I think we are starting to trend in the right direction in terms of more efficient home appliances.
Seeking Knowledge and Feedback:
So anyway if anyone knows anything about heat pumps and can tell me why my ideas are bad I would love to learn.
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Comments
I found one successful example of this truth through this blog. I am going to use such information now. JV3
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