4 ms·

That obviously depends on where you live. If you claim more energy is spent on heating overall I'd want a reference on that, since that goes against what I've

by yxhuvud 14y ago

That obviously depends on where you live. If you claim more energy is spent on heating overall I'd want a reference on that, since that goes against what I've heard. Especially since houses in cold climates tend to be a lot better insulated than houses in southern climates.

vectorjohn 14y ago
Yeah, cooling and heating are both just a change in heat energy, which would be the same for either except cooling is more difficult because you are lowering entropy locally, whereas heating you are just increasing entropy... at least that's how it seems to me. On the other hand geothermal is free for the most part (to use, not installation of course).
marshray 14y ago
Obviously I'm talking about places that have both a real winter and a real summer. How well insulated your house is is primarily a function of the available technology and the cost of energy when it was built. Probably the simplest reference I could give would be to point out that a lot of heavily populated places like Seattle, Chicago, the US Northeast, and much of Europe don't even install central air conditioning in homes at all. If we're talking about human survival standards of comfort, then obviously people have been living closer to the equator than you and I for a long time before AC was invented. In the winter, often a furnace is used to burn gas or electricity in a pure "burning" of utility energy to heat. Some people have heat pumps which are more efficient, but when they hit their limits the backup furnace kicks in. Often additional water must be added to the inside air, and that must be heated as well. The temperature differential which must be maintained by the burning fuel is easily 40 deg F (say 28 to 68 on a mild day). In the summertime, reasonable cooling involves using a refrigeration process to move heat out of the building. The refrigeration cycle isn't perfect, but it's surprisingly efficient since it's more moving the heat from one place to another. As a side effect, the inside air gets dehumidified which helps too. The summer cooling temperature difference is only 25 degrees F (say 98 to 75) on a hot day.
spenrose 14y ago
Here's your reference: http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=10271 http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=10271 In 2009, space heating was 40% of US home energy use, air conditioning was 6%.

by yxhuvud 14y ago

vectorjohn 14y ago

Yeah, cooling and heating are both just a change in heat energy, which would be the same for either except cooling is more difficult because you are lowering entropy locally, whereas heating you are just increasing entropy... at least that's how it seems to me. On the other hand geothermal is free for the most part (to use, not installation of course).

marshray 14y ago

Obviously I'm talking about places that have both a real winter and a real summer. How well insulated your house is is primarily a function of the available technology and the cost of energy when it was built. Probably the simplest reference I could give would be to point out that a lot of heavily populated places like Seattle, Chicago, the US Northeast, and much of Europe don't even install central air conditioning in homes at all. If we're talking about human survival standards of comfort, then obviously people have been living closer to the equator than you and I for a long time before AC was invented. In the winter, often a furnace is used to burn gas or electricity in a pure "burning" of utility energy to heat. Some people have heat pumps which are more efficient, but when they hit their limits the backup furnace kicks in. Often additional water must be added to the inside air, and that must be heated as well. The temperature differential which must be maintained by the burning fuel is easily 40 deg F (say 28 to 68 on a mild day). In the summertime, reasonable cooling involves using a refrigeration process to move heat out of the building. The refrigeration cycle isn't perfect, but it's surprisingly efficient since it's more moving the heat from one place to another. As a side effect, the inside air gets dehumidified which helps too. The summer cooling temperature difference is only 25 degrees F (say 98 to 75) on a hot day.

spenrose 14y ago

Here's your reference: http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=10271 http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=10271 In 2009, space heating was 40% of US home energy use, air conditioning was 6%.