Absorption heat pumps are mainly used for industrial hot water using warm water or other waste heat sources. For domestic use they are not currently common due to higher cost than electrically driven heat pumps and have low COP of typically 1-2 vs 4-8 for electrical heat pumps, (though when cooling their COP is normally <1). If you have electricity that is more than 6x the price of gas (or other hydrocarbon fuels) then it may be worth looking at absorption heat pumps and refrigerators, but they are quite uncommon so might not be easy to find a source. In the early 20th Century absorption based refrigerators were far more common than electric, and in a LENR world absorption based heat pumps might become the standard.
Absorption heat pumps can also work off solar heated water, though that doesn't help much at night time unless you store hot water or cold water in a large tank. If you are paying $1/kWh for electricity in the tropics then you could probably save money by switching to solar panels and batteries anyway. There is also a variant of the stirling cycle, The Vuilleumier cycle<http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=vuilleumier%20cycle&source=web&cd=7&ved=0CG8QFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.lib.purdue.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D1935%26context%3Diracc&ei=neBAT54eiLHRBb32uY8P&usg=AFQjCNGUfB7aCwMovH9YNVAZjvj_zHRkIQ&sig2=OdbdwUZaBU80_QS5IPGCGw>, that incorporates a heat-to-power and power-to-cooling system in a single thermodynamic machine by addition of an extra displacer and heat exchanger, all without having to use a separate refrigerator. The machines are expensive to build, and probably not economically competitive with absorption heat pumps. On 19 February 2012 02:39, Andre Blum <[email protected]> wrote: > > Rossi says an optional cooling / air conditioning module can later be > attached to the e-Cat. Supposedly this is some kind of heat pump / > absorption cooler. I can understand how that would work, theoretically. In > real life, however, I have not seen much more of this technology than a > camping fridge on gas. > > Last summer, I moved from Europe to an island in the Caribbean; one of the > warmer places on Earth. We have a large oil refinery here, and as a result > liquid petroleum gas is cheap. On the other hand, due to the issue of scale > (140.000 inhabitants), electricity is insanely expensive, say about $1/KWh. > Air conditioning is a major component of my high electricity bill. > > You would say these are ideal circumstances for cooling based on a heat > source, also when not considering LENR. If not from the sun, through > (non-PV) collectors, then from LPG. Still, I don't see those anywhere. > > So: how practical or common is the idea of cooling a house from a heat > source like an e-Cat? > > Andre > > > >
