| A heat pump is a system that uses recirculating liquid to move heat from one place to another. In a heating application the liquid absorbs heat from down a well where the temperature is usually fairly stable and then causes the liquid to give up that heat in the house, building etc. In summer, it absorbs heat from the building and pumps it back down the well where the heat is reabsorbed by the earth and groundwater.
The electricity used to drive the system is for the compressor and the circulating pump. (In essence it works a lot like a central air-conditioner but since the subterranean temperatures are lower than the air temperature outside your house (in summertime; in winter the subsurface temperatures are higher) it doesn't have to work as hard in summer and it is reversible for winter use).
Now... hook up solar/wind energy to a heat pump and you've really got something! (most of the time, anyway) |