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William J. S. Livingstone, B.Sc., M.Math vegevore@yahoo.com

GSHP: (Last updated: 28 Oct. 2001)

There are much more energy efficient ways to heat houses other than by burning fossil fuels. One method is the Ground Source Heat Pump.
A refrigerator or an air conditioner works by pumping heat from one place to another. This is potentially much more efficient than creating new heat from scratch (i.e., from fossil fuels).
The same technology can be used to heat (and cool) homes: the usual implementation is that of an outside air source heat pump. But these are not very effective because it is typically trying to cool a house by dumping heat outside when it is already very hot outside or conversely is trying to heat a house by extracting heat from the outside air when it is already very cold outside.
The GSHP solves this problem by tapping into the earth at a depth of at least 6 feet (2 metres) where the ground is a more or less constant temperature of about 54 degF (15 degC) year round. By burying a set of coils in the earth, we can take advantage of this.
This technology has the potential to (in the case of a region like the province of Ontario) to eliminate the direct use of fossil fuels in the heating of all homes. Further, I believe that about 15% of homes in Ontario are still heated electrically and that the GSHP technology could heat all of the homes in Ontario using only about that amount of electricity.
Conventional fossil fuel furnaces have efficiencies up to about 98&. The efficiency with current GSHP technology (compared to creating new heat) is about 350% averaged year round (including summer cooling).
The disadvantage is that doing this in an existing house can be expensive.
One development in British Columbia, uses a community based deep well arrangement that provides plenty of water at deep earth temperatures for a nominal monthly fee.

Functionally (refer to the Carnot cycle of heat engines), fluid thru the pump is compressed causing its temperature to rise (bright red). As the fluid circulates thru the house, it loses heat (dull red). As the fluid flows thru the (restriction) valve, it expands and cools (bright blue). As it flows thru the ground loop, it again picks up heat (dull blue).
Notes: The octapus in the centre is a valve: rotating it one eigth of a turn reverses the flow for heating vs cooling. This implementation includes side lines for a hot water heater (HW) and a refrigerator (ICE).

William J. S. Livingstone, B.Sc., M.Math
My URL:http://www.oocities.org/vegevore/

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GSHP Page of vegevore

William J. S. Livingstone, B.Sc., M.Math vegevore@yahoo.com GSHP: (Last updated: 28 Oct. 2001) There are much more energy efficient ways to heat houses other than by burning fossil fuels. One method is the Ground Source Heat Pump. A refrigerator or an air conditioner works by pumping heat from one place to another. This is potentially much more efficient than creating new heat from scratch (i.e., from fossil fuels). The same technology can be used to heat (and cool) homes: the usual implementation is that of an outside air source heat pump. But these are not very effective because it is typically trying to cool a house by dumping heat outside when it is already very hot outside or conversely is trying to heat a house by extracting heat from the outside air when it is already very cold outside. The GSHP solves this problem by tapping into the earth at a depth of at least 6 feet (2 metres) where the ground is a more or less constant temperature of about 54 degF (15 degC) year round. By burying a set of coils in the earth, we can take advantage of this. This technology has the potential to (in the case of a region like the province of Ontario) to eliminate the direct use of fossil fuels in the heating of all homes. Further, I believe that about 15% of homes in Ontario are still heated electrically and that the GSHP technology could heat all of the homes in Ontario using only about that amount of electricity. Conventional fossil fuel furnaces have efficiencies up to about 98&. The efficiency with current GSHP technology (compared to creating new heat) is about 350% averaged year round (including summer cooling). The disadvantage is that doing this in an existing house can be expensive. One development in British Columbia, uses a community based deep well arrangement that provides plenty of water at deep earth temperatures for a nominal monthly fee. Functionally (refer to the Carnot cycle of heat engines), fluid thru the pump is compressed causing its temperature to rise (bright red). As the fluid circulates thru the house, it loses heat (dull red). As the fluid flows thru the (restriction) valve, it expands and cools (bright blue). As it flows thru the ground loop, it again picks up heat (dull blue). Notes: The octapus in the centre is a valve: rotating it one eigth of a turn reverses the flow for heating vs cooling. This implementation includes side lines for a hot water heater (HW) and a refrigerator (ICE).