The following is a guest post by HomeServe.com.
It’s definitely not a reason to rethink your boiler insurance just yet, but Swedish scientists reckon they’ve discovered the heating solution of the future. Jernhusen, a real estate firm from Stockholm, is looking into how body heat can be harnessed to provide natural, environmentally-friendly warmth.
According to BBC News, the company has found a way to channel the heat produced by commuters at the Swedish capital’s Central Station to a building nearby. With around 250,000 people passing through the transport hub every day, the boffins believe there’s a great natural resource to be tapped into. Head of Jernhusen’s environmental division Klas Johansson explained that the technology being used to transfer the heat is actually nothing new. “This is old technology being used in a new way. The only difference here is that we’ve shifted energy between two different buildings,” he commented.
The expert explained that commuters do not just produce heat by simply walking through the station and boarding or alighting from trains. “[Commuters] themselves generate a bit of heat. But they also do a lot of activities. They buy food, they buy drinks, they buy newspapers and they buy books,” he added.
The system works by using heat exchangers in station’s ventilation system, which converts the body heat into hot water, which is then pumped to a heating system. It’s claimed that doing this has already slashed the energy costs by as much as a quarter. “This is generally good business. We save money in energy costs and so the building becomes worth more,” Mr Johansson said, adding that he’s “quite surprised” that no one has thought of the method before.
Although the science is unarguably impressive, we reckon it’s a long time before you’re likely to see the technology in your home – meaning boiler breakdown cover will be essential for years to come. While 250,000 people can generate serious heat, huddling for warmth when your boiler’s packed in is unlikely to have the same effect – which is why having a cover in place could be a real life saver.
Rather than ring around local tradesmen for a quote, with a heating cover in place you can be sure that a fully-qualified Gas Safe engineer will be on the way to fix the problem – and with no hefty bill to worry about, you’ll be left to spend your money on more important things.
Which, if you’re a Swedish scientist, is probably investing in the technology to warm your home through body heat…
This was a guest post by HomeServe.com.
[Kevin] Perhaps this explains why my small room heats up a bit just with me inside it — I don’t think we could efficiently power the Matrix, but if a human puts out about 100 watts of heat then all I need to do is drink some warm soup instead of turning up the heat. 😉 I personally wonder about boiler insurance and similar products. Our place uses electric heating and everything electric, but we have our own hot water tank, and if this were to break it would be one expensive repair or replacement. Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn’t have been more efficient for the builders to install one large tank instead, but maybe it wasn’t.
Interesting concept, I know I lose heat and cooling because my home is porous compared to cold climate homes. Since utility costs are relatively low, it is hard to justify spending much to rectify it.
Interesting. Where I am the local fitness club has the energy generated by exercisers on stationary bicycles stored and actually it is quiet significant. It got me to wondering if a basketball court or indoor soccer court could be designed that generates energy as players run up and down. The actual stepping on the court generates a small amount of heat. Does that even make sense?
Harnessing the massive amounts of energy created as people go about their daily lives may be the key to solving our energy problems – and it is all clean!
Interesting application of heat exchange principles. Fundamentally, whether it’s burning wood or burning calories, it’s all sunlight.
One small step for mankind, one huge leap for coffee bean producers. LOL !
@DIY Investor: Do you have any idea what brand of stationary bicycles those are. I’d like to look into that a little more. 🙂
Here’s the link:
http://www.explorehoward.com/news/79215/columbia-athletic-club-uses-green-bikes-power-gym/
Absolutely fascinating! Other than the bicycle I don’t think human power has been put to good use! This might be a good start!
Great article, stories like this always amazes me, go Green!!!
Kind of make me think perhaps those smaller houses that Little House is always talking about might be a good candidate for this type of technology.