Heat your House with a Mechanical Windmill (solar.lowtechmagazine.com)
from tedu@azorius.net to tech@azorius.net on 20 Aug 2023 21:58
https://azorius.net/g/tech/p/p5MFFQhBC5242nlD2W-Heat-your-House-with-a-Mechanical-Windmill

Renewable energy production is almost entirely aimed at the generation of electricity. However, we use more energy in the form of heat, which solar panels and wind turbines can produce only indirectly and relatively inefficiently. A solar thermal collector skips the conversion to electricity and supplies renewable thermal energy in a direct and more efficient way.

Much less known is that a mechanical windmill can do the same in a windy climate – by oversizing its brake system, a windmill can generate lots of direct heat through friction. A mechanical windmill can also be coupled to a mechanical heat pump, which can be cheaper than using a gas boiler or an electric heat pump driven by a wind turbine.

#energy #tech