Quote:
Originally Posted by aardvarcus
Why not just design the house to use such little energy that supplemental heating is very minimal? 
I utilize what you are suggesting when I need to work on my car in the winter, make sure it is nice and warm before pulling into the garage for the free heating.
What we really need is an exhaust heated oven to cook our dinner on our drive home. Simple heat exchanger... Or how about a engine coolant heated crock pot.
My issue with the phase change material is that they tend to loose their effectiveness over time.
Toyota had the vacuum insulated canister to store heated coolant to preheat the engine for the next trip, it would be cool to see that idea on steroids.
It frustrates me in the winter to see industrial cooling towers running expelling waste heat from industrial process water, and then to see the same plants burning natural gas to heat water for building heat. Not even trying... |
I call BS on the statement about phase change materials losing their effectiveness over time. The melt point and freeze point of a chemical does not change over time, nor does the amount of energy required for phase change....Water of course being the obvious example......... of course if an eutectic material is not chemically stable and breaks down, or reacts with itself to produce something entirely different this would not be the case. Otherwise there is no possible change in the heat of fusion of a chemical. If an eutectic material is not stable by itself, it should never be sold for that application. If it reacts to it's environment (containment), then it needs to be contained with something that is not reactive to it. It's that simple.
H.W.