Heat pumps are electrical devices that move heat from one place to another. A compressor passes a refrigerant between two heat exchanger coils. The first coil evaporates the refrigerant and absorbs heat from its surroundings. Then the second coil condenses the refrigerant and releases the heat. National Resources Defense Council of America envisages a new role for heat pumps in energy storage.
Pumping Heat in Residential and Commercial Buildings
Refrigerators and air conditioners operate on the heat pump principle. However, National Resources Defense Council of America believes heat pump technology could store clean energy too. This new role for heat pumps would involve storing solar energy. And then releasing it when nature’s solar energy generator pauses.
This opens up possibilities of cities running entirely on solar energy around the clock and considerably reducing air pollution. Canada’s residential and commercial buildings, for example produce ten times the emissions of its power plants. However, if it switched across to heat pumps for its boilers this would considerably reduce this pollution.
Clean Energy Storage: A New Role for Heat Pumps
National Resources Defense Council of America believes heat pumps can act as thermal batteries by heating water. The water could remain hot for twelve hours, and even longer with superior insulation.
This could be greener than using conventional batteries to store solar energy for heating buildings after hours. It would also correct the misalignment between solar energy and late afternoon / evening peak. That’s because it would ‘shift’ energy demand across to quieter times in daytime. This new role for heat pumps sounds like a real winner and we welcome it too.
We write about everything to do with batteries on this site, including green renewable energy and its role in countering climate change. Batteries store energy for future use. Anything that does that is therefore a battery too.
Related
Energy: The Source of Work and Heat
Geothermal Asks ‘Why Burn Fossil Fuel’?
Preview Image: Vapor-Compression Refrigeration Cycle
Video Share Link: https://youtu.be/gaV-F7X_2vc
