I am a home builder and would love to see more integrated systems within homes to share and conserve energy. You mentioned the heat transfer out of a freezer. Well, at the same time we are likely to need heat transfer into hot water and in the winter time into heating our homes. It would be nice if there were a way to transfer that energy within the home rather than wasting it.
Hi Willis, currently the heat that is removed from a freezer/refrigerator is put inside the home. The reason the freezer needs to continue to run is because thermal energy is slowly leaking back into the freezer from the house. Overall there is a net heating effect of the house, proportional to the amount of electricity that the freezer's refrigeration system uses. This net heat gain, albeit small, is good in the winter, but bad in the summer. Regarding putting the freezer's heat into hot water, there are some challenges with that regarding energy quality and exergy, which I will cover in a future article. Great comments!
I am a home builder and would love to see more integrated systems within homes to share and conserve energy. You mentioned the heat transfer out of a freezer. Well, at the same time we are likely to need heat transfer into hot water and in the winter time into heating our homes. It would be nice if there were a way to transfer that energy within the home rather than wasting it.
Hi Willis, currently the heat that is removed from a freezer/refrigerator is put inside the home. The reason the freezer needs to continue to run is because thermal energy is slowly leaking back into the freezer from the house. Overall there is a net heating effect of the house, proportional to the amount of electricity that the freezer's refrigeration system uses. This net heat gain, albeit small, is good in the winter, but bad in the summer. Regarding putting the freezer's heat into hot water, there are some challenges with that regarding energy quality and exergy, which I will cover in a future article. Great comments!