[Sosfbay-discuss] Is There a Free Lunch Out There?

[cls at truffula.sj.ca.us]

My grandfather had an all electric house in Sarasota, part of the
mid-60s building boom there.  He was really proud of its
ammonia adsorbtion heat pump.  It had a heat exchanger sunk into
the water table about fifteen feet below the house.
He was a chemical engineer and thought it was ridiculous to use
any other process for refrigeration.  Cost about a tenth as much
to run as a conventional "air conditioner" and took up about
three times as much volume.

I never heard of such a machine again until I took thermodynamics.
Apparently it's common for hockey rinks and chilled warehouses
but seldom used for smaller things any more despite being widely
known as the most efficient refrigeration technology.
Even for a conventional air conditioner, ammonia beats hell out of
freon or hydrocarbons, and in real world conditions it's no more
dangerous.  Bring back ammonia.  Freon is a crock, and that includes
the so-called "safer for the ozone" HCFCs.

Geothermal goes with heat pumps.  Part of a whole class of
technologies that never get a chance because of their competition's
dominant incumbency.  We talk about photovoltaics a lot, but
how often do you hear environmental groups advocating solar
thermal concentrators?  Straw bale houses?  Whatever happened
to plain old steel stud?  Hemp for paper and textiles.
And my fave, ultralight tubular rail, which is just never gonna
get a chance.

Aargh.  Another technological pet peeve.  Or three.


Cameron