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ORNL roof and attic design proves efficient in summer and
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2012 Story Tips
ORNL’s newly licensed neutron detector will advance human disease
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Story Tip
This is a story idea from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge
National Laboratory. To arrange for an interview with a researcher,
please contact the Communications and External Relations staff
member identified at the end of the tip.
ENERGY — Revolutionary heat pump . .
.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Oklahoma’s ClimateMaster Inc.
have collaborated to develop a ground source heat pump that can
reduce a homeowner’s electric bill by up to 60 percent. The Trilogy
40 is the first geothermal heat pump certified by the Air
Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute to achieve a
space cooling efficiency rating in excess of 40 EER (energy
efficiency ratio). An EER rating of 13.5 is typical of conventional
heat pumps. For a family living in a 2,600-square-foot
well-insulated home, that translates into average annual savings of
$300 to $500 vs. today’s state-of-the-art and minimum efficiency
heat pumps, respectively. Savings could be much greater for
individual cases. The Trilogy 40 is the culmination of a five-year
cooperative research and development agreement and advances the
integrated heat pump concept developed by ORNL. The U.S. Department
of Energy and ORNL have a long tradition of researching, testing
and verifying heat pump technology. [
