h a l f b a k e r yRight twice a day.
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Instead of letting all the heat energy of urban rivers go to waste, why not create an UrbanIrriKidneyHeatPump system.
Heat pumps are like refrigerators in reverse.
In the fridge, you use, say 1, unit of energy (electrical) to remove, say 3 or more, units of energy (heat) from your food. And dump
4 units of energy into the kitchen out the back through a radiator.
The heat pump is similar except the cooled milk in the fridge is constantly being removed and replaced with new hot milk, or in reality water that runs through a large loop that passes through a large heat sink outside the house.
If there isn't a river to put your loop into then a huge layer of ground outside can be used instead. Very clunky.
Well if you can't move your house to a river why not move a river to your house. So what I propose is a kidney like system where the river enters a damn at the top of town, is then sent down a system of ever branching pipes (like a kidney) that reach your house (and many other houses ,too), which is then fed into your heat pump, where heat is extracted, then the cool water is discharged out of the house and is sent through a series of pipes that converge, and then finally feed back into the river at the bottom of the town.
A much more effcient way to use electricity for heating.
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Or cooling. Your idea works well for heating or cooling providing there is sufficient differential in temperatures. I know someone who discovered a large well on his property and has built a closed loop system to cool his house using well water. His only cost is in the reticulating pump overcoming the friction of moving water through his siphon. |
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However, even if one is cautious to avoid contaminating the water, it’s heat has been removed and one has still inadvertently caused an environmental impact. Unfortunately, bacteria grow better in warmer water. If you have a hot water source, like a hot spring, the opposite is true and perhaps one has killed off those bacterial extremeophiles. |
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So if one person does it, the damage is negligible, but if everyone is doing it… don’t swim in the river...or hot spring. |
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This system would cool the water to heat the house. So reducing bacterial growth. |
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I thought this would be a system to harvest the heat energy from urinals. |
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Iceland uses abundant geothermal to provide steam heat to the entire city of Rechyivivk at subsidized rates. Common ground geothermal loops are now available from most heating contractors. Requires a 9 foot deep pit. |
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Are you telling us the entire city of Rechyivivk is killing off all those poor helpless extremeophiles? I'll bet they're extremeophile friends are extremeophiley pissed! |
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You could just pump heat into your household cold water supply... |
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Sounds legionnairelishious. |
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