Emperor Penguins This whimsical MP4 video shows how thermal design issues affect the family life of emperor penguins. The author put it together long before March of the Penguins came out and with a much smaller budget.  We do include some technical details that were glossed over in the movie.  Make sure you turn up your sound (although you won’t hear Morgan Freeman narrating).

 

Extended Surface (Fins) Applications

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline Passive Cooling System (bottom of Extended Surface page)

 

Ground Source Heat Pump  This presentation includes both installation photos and some thermodynamics.   It explains why a ground source heat pump is better than a conventional air-air heat pump for residential heating and cooling.

 

 

Insulated Concrete Form House  This presentation highlights a building system in which foam slabs are used as forms for the concrete and kept in place permanently.   This construction provides both thermal mass (in the concrete) and thermal resistance (in the foam forms)

 

Another type of residential construction uses straw bales as the walls.   This mode gives a lot of “R-value”, but not the thermal mass inherent in the ICF system.