This is an encouraging concept, and one I'd really like to see pursued. The fact is there are probably a lot of different things waste heat can be put to use for in a home (perhaps a cpu heat-pipe that helps heat incoming water?).
There is a LOT of energy in the world that just normally burns off into the surrounding atmosphere. I personally believe that a major component of global warming is sheer waste heat from homes, cars, and industry. If this heat could be harnessed, it could reduce atmospheric heating AND reduce energy needs.
Doing a quick search I see that the sun output 386 billion billion megawatts of energy. While not all of it ends on earth it shows what little different recycling the heat in your kitchen will make.
I'm all for saving energy (and thus money) and if they called this an "energy efficient kitchen" I'd be interested. However, everything has to be called green these days and it's getting rather irritating to the point where it's a turn off. Has anyone seen those Crucial adverts telling you to upgrade your memory because it's greener than buying a new PC? Literally everything is being called green and it's getting silly.
I'll admit, I'm not an engineer, much less an expert in thermodynamics, but I don't think it takes a genius to see that we have a great many more industrial processes that pump heat into the atmosphere. You would think that this heat must somehow make the atmosphere warmer than it would have been otherwise.
Since that heat really represents energy, wouldn't it stand to reason that there'd be some benefit from rendering that energy useful?
You're right, Charles, sustainability is such a turn off! Who cares about the environment? "Going green" has to be the worst fad ever! I mean, what happened to fur coats being popular? Now we're busy worrying about the very thing that keeps us alive? Ridiculous.
Also, Thunderbuck, it's the CO2 from the factories along with the sun's heat that causes the greenhouse effect, not the heat produced from burning fuels. Regardless, this is a great idea as it will ultimately lead to less energy consumption. Not to mention it looks absolutely sexual.
@RikF: Actually, yes. You don't realize it because you're saturated with it, but North American technology is so embarrassingly in the dark ages that it's no wonder we can't get back to the moon. Case in point: a hot water heater. Seriously, think about it. A HUGE canister dedicated to keeping a reservoir of 60 gallons or so piping hot. All day long. Just in case you need hot water at any time. And for the 23 hours a day you AREN'T using hot water, that tank is just slowly leeching its heat out into the environment as waste. The Europeans solved this years ago with Water On Demand. We're FINALLY seeing some adoption of these water heating systems (for those who don't know them, they are essentially a very small wall-mounted unit that heats incoming cold water AS NEEDED and doesn't keep it in reserve) - it was only a few years ago that Home Depot started stocking them.
I do have a good supporting example of the waste energy being useful, as well. Shortly before I was born, my dad built a water reclamation tank in basement of the house. It was basically a dishwasher-sized aluminum tank. Sewer water from all the bathtubs and sinks (minus kitchen sink which typically has far too much food waste in it) flows into this tank (and drains via an overflow into the sewer proper). The incoming cold water that's destined for the hot water heater travels through 40' of coiled copper piping inside this tank - essentially it pre-warms the water to be heated by the hot water tank. He went to great pains to chart the performance of the tank (and some tuning) and the energy savings netted a 25% reduction in gas needed by the water heater. That's substantial and requires NO energy and some minor maintenance (read: cleaning and seal inspection) every 5 years or so.
There are so many wasteful things we do that we can't see past as we look for alternative energy. Like with all things, the answer lies in between - we don't NEED a source of green energy to replace all of our energy consumption, because we don't NEED all the energy we're using. A hybrid of energy replacement coupled with a smart reduction of energy usage (which cannot mean a reduction in quality of life to get there) will get us so much closer.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Thunderbuck @ Mar 15th 2008 1:50PM
This is an encouraging concept, and one I'd really like to see pursued. The fact is there are probably a lot of different things waste heat can be put to use for in a home (perhaps a cpu heat-pipe that helps heat incoming water?).
There is a LOT of energy in the world that just normally burns off into the surrounding atmosphere. I personally believe that a major component of global warming is sheer waste heat from homes, cars, and industry. If this heat could be harnessed, it could reduce atmospheric heating AND reduce energy needs.
RikF @ Mar 15th 2008 2:09PM
You really believe that the wasted heat from machinery etc. is a contributing factor when compared to the sun?
Charles @ Mar 15th 2008 2:54PM
Doing a quick search I see that the sun output 386 billion billion megawatts of energy. While not all of it ends on earth it shows what little different recycling the heat in your kitchen will make.
I'm all for saving energy (and thus money) and if they called this an "energy efficient kitchen" I'd be interested. However, everything has to be called green these days and it's getting rather irritating to the point where it's a turn off. Has anyone seen those Crucial adverts telling you to upgrade your memory because it's greener than buying a new PC? Literally everything is being called green and it's getting silly.
Thunderbuck @ Mar 15th 2008 3:56PM
I'll admit, I'm not an engineer, much less an expert in thermodynamics, but I don't think it takes a genius to see that we have a great many more industrial processes that pump heat into the atmosphere. You would think that this heat must somehow make the atmosphere warmer than it would have been otherwise.
Since that heat really represents energy, wouldn't it stand to reason that there'd be some benefit from rendering that energy useful?
John @ Mar 15th 2008 5:25PM
You're right, Charles, sustainability is such a turn off! Who cares about the environment? "Going green" has to be the worst fad ever! I mean, what happened to fur coats being popular? Now we're busy worrying about the very thing that keeps us alive? Ridiculous.
Also, Thunderbuck, it's the CO2 from the factories along with the sun's heat that causes the greenhouse effect, not the heat produced from burning fuels. Regardless, this is a great idea as it will ultimately lead to less energy consumption. Not to mention it looks absolutely sexual.
Rikko @ Mar 17th 2008 12:17PM
@RikF: Actually, yes. You don't realize it because you're saturated with it, but North American technology is so embarrassingly in the dark ages that it's no wonder we can't get back to the moon.
Case in point: a hot water heater. Seriously, think about it. A HUGE canister dedicated to keeping a reservoir of 60 gallons or so piping hot. All day long. Just in case you need hot water at any time. And for the 23 hours a day you AREN'T using hot water, that tank is just slowly leeching its heat out into the environment as waste.
The Europeans solved this years ago with Water On Demand. We're FINALLY seeing some adoption of these water heating systems (for those who don't know them, they are essentially a very small wall-mounted unit that heats incoming cold water AS NEEDED and doesn't keep it in reserve) - it was only a few years ago that Home Depot started stocking them.
I do have a good supporting example of the waste energy being useful, as well. Shortly before I was born, my dad built a water reclamation tank in basement of the house. It was basically a dishwasher-sized aluminum tank. Sewer water from all the bathtubs and sinks (minus kitchen sink which typically has far too much food waste in it) flows into this tank (and drains via an overflow into the sewer proper). The incoming cold water that's destined for the hot water heater travels through 40' of coiled copper piping inside this tank - essentially it pre-warms the water to be heated by the hot water tank. He went to great pains to chart the performance of the tank (and some tuning) and the energy savings netted a 25% reduction in gas needed by the water heater. That's substantial and requires NO energy and some minor maintenance (read: cleaning and seal inspection) every 5 years or so.
There are so many wasteful things we do that we can't see past as we look for alternative energy. Like with all things, the answer lies in between - we don't NEED a source of green energy to replace all of our energy consumption, because we don't NEED all the energy we're using. A hybrid of energy replacement coupled with a smart reduction of energy usage (which cannot mean a reduction in quality of life to get there) will get us so much closer.