Escuela de Politécnica Superior

Heating and cooling consume a high amount of energy, which is today mainly provided by fossil fuels. To save fossil resources and simultaneously reduce pollutants and CO2, heating and cooling energy consumption should be reduced. Geothermal energy is a clean, inexhaustible source of energy that is available all year round because it does not depend on the weather. Nevertheless, the use of tempered subsoil air has been used as a traditional air conditioning strategy; however, nowadays, its use has been questioned by the discovery of the leaks of radon gas from the ground. The investigation searches a heat exchange system with the subsoil which prevents the introduction of radon gas into living spaces. The system that is exposed increases the performance of aerothermal heat pumps by means of thermal exchange with tempered air in the sanitary chamber. This exchange is more favorable than air at the outside temperature, increasing the COP of the machine. This system complies with the regulations for protection against radon, protecting the building from this radioactive gas.

The scientific understanding of the concepts of cold and heat that have accompanied the human species throughout history has not been easy. The concept of heat is more widespread and studied among us, as well as its consequences. However, we wonder what would happen if we lowered the temperature a lot? As the temperature begins to drop, it can be predicted that the atoms tend to slow down, slowing down their speed, and when this happens, existing theories begin to tremble. The laws governing the atomic world, so small and tiny, do not allow objects (atoms, protons, neutrons, etc.) to stop. This is where quantum physics appears, it tells us how particles behave at the atomic level, and they appear in a forceful way when we approach temperature values around absolute zero. If atoms stopped moving, they would have zero energy, however, quantum mechanics makes it impossible to have this kind of energy.