Too Hot to Handle, Too Cold to Hold

How to save up to 40% on your energy bill

Your Appliance IQ

Where do you use your other 27%? What rooms of the house? What activities?

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How Much Does it Use?Power Consumption (Watts)

TV 215

Laptop 120

Coffee Maker 1200

Microwave 1500

Dryer 2800

Dishwasher 1200

Freezer 400

Hair Dryer 1000

Toaster 1000

Fridge 700

Well Pump 2250

How Much Are You Paying?Monthly Cost (Estimated)

TV $4.00 Laptop $2.05Coffee Maker $1.30Microwave $1.05Clothes Dryer $12.11Dishwasher $5.21Freezer $1.74Hair Dryer $0.84Refrigerator $21.27Well Pump $3.50Total $53.07

WI Avg (from EIA) $81.71 US Avg (from EIA) $103.67

Heating: The Big One

40% of personal energy use (more in WI)

Single biggest source of personal energy use

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Some Like it Hot: How We Get Heat

Gas Heating Electric Heating Wood Stove Geothermal

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Gas vs Electric What's Hot What's Not?

Gas Burn fuel to

produce heat

Electric Burn fuel to produce

heat Heat water to make

steam Use steam to run

turbine Use turbine to

power generator Make electricity Use resistor to make

heat

http://www.cheyennelight.com/images/gas2.jpg

Electric heat uses 2-3 times as much gas from plant to house.

How much more does it cost to use an electric heater?

Which is better, gas or electric?

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Ways to Make Electricity Heat Engines

Coal plants Gas plants Nuclear plants Solar thermal Biomass

Other Hydro Wind Tide Solar PV

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Heat Engines vs Other Electric Revisited

• Heat Engines• Maximum efficiency

limited by thermodynamics (physics)• Power plants are 30-

50% efficient• What happens to the

other half?• Waste heat!• Can we use the waste

heat to produce more work?

• Other Electric• No fuel burned to

create electricity, free resources

• Electricity can be converted to heat at 100% efficiency

• Take up a lot of space (square feet per megawatt)

Waste Heat

100 GJ/yr = 3.17 kW…like every person in WI had 3 hair dryers running 24/7 the whole year.

http://www.stwing.upenn.edu/~salexa/Research-WasteHeat.htm

Heat Pumps and Geothermal Heat• What is a heat pump?

• Heat engine in reverse (same idea as a refrigerator)

• Put work in to get heat flow

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So How Do They Work? You need a “working fluid” to transport the

energy where you want it to go. This must be pumped around.

The work needed is proportional to the difference between the outside and inside temperatures.

http://www.envirowarm.co.uk/img/heatpump.png

The Nitty Gritty on Heat PumpsAs the temperatures get nearer, you need less and less work to get heating/cooling.

Geothermal cooling is 75% more efficient than the refrigerator in your kitchen.

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What Does This Mean?Three Ways to Eliminate Paying For Space and Water Heating

Option 1•Harnessing waste heat from power plants would more than meet the space/water heating needs of all the US (residential).

•Can we do it?

Option 2•Integrated renewables (solar/wind) provide “free” energy resources that can be converted completely to heat.Option 3•Geothermal heat pumps achieve the desired heat transfer with minimal work input.

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A Caveat: Quality of EnergyIf we can convert energy into work, it’s more useful (ie higher quality).The quality of thermal energy (heat) is proportional to how much higher its temperature is than the surroundings.Mechanical energy and electricity are the highest quality (convert into any form 100%).Are electricity and high energy density fuels the best way to heat our houses and water?

http://www.stwing.upenn.edu/~salexa/Research/WasteHeat/WasteHeatMatrix.png

A Re-envisioned Power Grid

http://www.stwing.upenn.edu/~salexa/Research-WasteHeat.htm

“Figure 4 - Results from this study highlight the benefits of a alternate energy consumption paradigm where power is generated in a distributed fashion, maximizing waste heat recovery opportunities and reducing primary energy consumption”

A Final Thought Use the right quality energy for the job!

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In Summary When it comes to conserving energy and

saving money, there are a few key ideas.1) For “high” temperature applications, gas

saves 67% on energy and cost. (Hotter than you want to touch).

2) For space/water heating, we have an excess of waste heat from power plants and an abundance of geothermal heat.

3) To fill in gaps and further reduce costs, integrated renewables (wind/solar) are a cure-all.