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Show 'Heat Pump' Taps Warmth in Earth The day may come when underground under-ground temperatures will heat the majority of homes in winter and keep them comfortably cool on the hottest days of summer. Further development of a device de-vice known as a "heat pump," which operates on the same principle prin-ciple as the cooling unit of the electric refrigerator in your kitchen, is expected to make this type of heating not only possible but practicable. The food storage space of the refrigerator is made cold because the refrigerating unit absorbs the heat in the box and pumps it into the room. Similarly, the heat pump draws warmth from the earth and spreads it in the house. A vast reservoir of heat is available avail-able to be tapped in this manner since the temperature of the earth remains virtually constant, around 54 degrees, below the frost line. Various methods can be used to distribute this heat, once pumped into the house, the most convenient conve-nient being the circulation of warm air. In summer, the house can be cooled merely by reversing revers-ing the heat pump. As a cooling mechanism, the pump removes the heat from the house and transfers it into the cooler ground. While this revolutionary type of heating is generally more costly than conventional heating plants, research and continued improvement of the heat pump system is expected to make its operation less expensive. |