gas vs electricity

Smiley_Dan

The heat energy is moved from one place to another. It is not lost.

Actually though, "freezing the ground" is a concern with very badly designed GSHP trench systems.

That's the thing with heat pumps: there are a lot of caveats, at least for the UK where our housing stock is so badly constructed and insulated. A recco on an Internet forum is just the first step of what necessarily has to be a good amount of research into the pros and cons, what makes them work and what doesn't.

Cardew

redkoatz wrote: »

Might be on to something here though for directly combating the symptoms of global warming, instead of the cause.

What a great idea, generate loads and loads more electricity to run heat pumps that will cool down the world and combat global warming;)


Mmm, I just wonder if there is a flaw in that plan. I wonder if Albert Einstein's pronouncement. - 'Energy cannot be created or destroyed' could be relevant.

redkoatz

Cardew wrote: »

What a great idea, generate loads and loads more electricity to run heat pumps that will cool down the world and combat global warming;)


Mmm, I just wonder if there is a flaw in that plan. I wonder if Albert Einstein's pronouncement. - 'Energy cannot be created or destroyed' could be relevant.

LOL well you know, I wasn't actually serious : P but even Albert Einstein has been known to be wrong on occaisions. And what about perpetual motion devices using magnets? Tesla allegedly had a system that he couldn't market that claims to have done just that. Requiring no fuel and generating enough electricity to run itself and create electricity, using a table top device weighing 50 pounds and generating 50kwh. Now I know some will jump in and say the man was nuts (in fact the term mad scientist was created for him) But his vision was a future for free energy transmitted wirelessly across the globe. Which of course his investors didn't want any part of since "where would you put the meter" So it's not beyond the realms of reality why any such innovation regarding perpetual motion devices would be 'swept under the rug' They basically did the same thing with electrical cars in california. What a scam, a whole graveyard of tens of thousands of perfectly functioning cars, which the general public and celebrities swore by. (inc arnold swarchzenneger and mel gibson)

pvt

Cardew wrote: »

Mmm, I just wonder if there is a flaw in that plan. I wonder if Albert Einstein's pronouncement. - 'Energy cannot be created or destroyed' could be relevant.

Yes, correct. But it can be converted. For example from chemical energy to kinetic energy, or from thermal energy to kinetic energy, or as in the case of gas central heating, from chemical energy to thermal energy.

And it can also be moved, from inside a fridge to outside of it, or from outside of a house to inside of it.

And don't worry about cooling the city down Redkoatz, the only reason you need to heat your home at all is because it all leaks back out to heat up the city.

redkoatz

pvt wrote: »

Yes, correct. But it can be converted. For example from chemical energy to kinetic energy, or from thermal energy to kinetic energy, or as in the case of gas central heating, from chemical energy to thermal energy.

And it can also be moved, from inside a fridge to outside of it, or from outside of a house to inside of it.

And don't worry about cooling the city down Redkoatz, the only reason you need to heat your home at all is because it all leaks back out to heat up the city.

ok lol.. but it was only a joke !

Andy_WSM

What we really need to do of course is install a load of air conditioning units where the "outdoor" unit is outside the earth atmosphere, then we could pump all the excess heat into space :T

Or we could just sack all the politicians around the world and the amount of hot air being produced would instantly fall.