Could heat in air be used as a source of energy?
Could heat in air be used as a source of energy?
To day was humid as hell, in Austin and I wondered if the thick hot air contained energy.
I looked it up and apparently heat IS energy. That’s cool! Can you convert hot air into electricity?
I looked it up and apparently heat IS energy. That’s cool! Can you convert hot air into electricity?
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Google geothermal power. Question answered.
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heat, from any source, can only be used to generate power when you have a temperature differential. So yes, hot air could be used to generate electricity, but only if you had someplace much colder nearby.
Which means, NO, atmospheric heat is not very practical for generating electricity because it takes more energy to create a temperature differential than you get back out of it.
The reason geothermal DOES work is that the surface of the earth is much COOLER than the hot pockets deep underneath.
Which means, NO, atmospheric heat is not very practical for generating electricity because it takes more energy to create a temperature differential than you get back out of it.
The reason geothermal DOES work is that the surface of the earth is much COOLER than the hot pockets deep underneath.
Heat exchangers work by using the hot stale air from your house to pre heat the cold fresh incoming air. In Summer you can hook up a pump to your geothermal system, or air conditioning to cool the incoming air.
Another Heat exchanger system uses humidity and air movement to cool incoming Summer air, (Swamp Cooler effect to nTh degree)
http://www.advancedbuildings.org/main_t ... y_heat.htm
Ok I used to mess with rooftops for a living too.
Another Heat exchanger system uses humidity and air movement to cool incoming Summer air, (Swamp Cooler effect to nTh degree)
http://www.advancedbuildings.org/main_t ... y_heat.htm
Ok I used to mess with rooftops for a living too.
Canuck is right, in that you can do a little bit with the temperature differences between inside and outside, but you can't get much out of it- hardly enough to generate a decent amount of electricity with. A lot of systems use pressure to produce power, and heat is used to produce the pressure differential. Think of heat as kind of the \"waste energy\" in the world. Any perfect system will produce absolutely no heat, and an inefficient will produce lots of heat. Once you dump heat into the air really can't get much of the energy back. (For example, a common car engine runs at under 70% efficiency- that means that almost 1/3 of the energy in the gasoline turns into heat and is just wasted.)
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I'm surprised no one has mentioned the laws of thermodynamics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermodynamics
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermodynamics
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Re:
Thank you, Captain Obvious! I was referring to the PRINCIPLE involved. [foamy]Jackass![/foamy]Ferno wrote:he said heat in air, MD.
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Re:
x2Top Wop wrote:^^^ I was going to mention that, but look at the person who started the thread. The gray mass above the shoulders is lacking.
I draw naked people at school. Sometimes an apple... counting things sucks.
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Temperature differential is a valid means of generating power. I know for a fact that a hospital of the shores of one of the great lakes uses such a system leveraging the extremely cold water deep in the lake.
In theory, you could build multi-Megawatt ocean-based facilities - but in practice, the hardware takes too much of a beating in the sea. Fiords or something might work better?
In theory, you could build multi-Megawatt ocean-based facilities - but in practice, the hardware takes too much of a beating in the sea. Fiords or something might work better?
Could heat in air be used as a source of energy
ever hear of 'stirling engines'? oh btw car engines rate about 24% but a stirling engine rates about 70%. but then how would i know? iv only built one is why & did a stack of research of em
cheers
rij
cheers
rij
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Bah, I'm sure Merlin is hanging around here somewhere.Isaac wrote:so after reading this, it looks like i'll have to invent magic first
"One spelling mistake can destroy your life. A Husband sent this to his wife : "I'm having a wonderful time. Wish you were her." - @RobinWilliams