DailyDirt: Boiling Water More Efficiently

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Boiling water might sound like a common and easy thing to do, but precisely because it's such a ubiquitous activity, if we can make it more efficient, we can save a sizable amount of energy. Maybe you've tried not watching a kettle to see if it boils faster, but far more serious efforts are making progress on more efficient boiling. Cookware isn't the only application that could benefit from more efficient thermal transfer. Check out these examples of making hot water using less energy.

• The "Flare Pan" is a pot design that claims to heat up faster and use 40% less energy than conventional cookware. The bottom of this pot has fins to help distribute heat, making it heat up more quickly and efficiently -- and only being slightly more difficult to clean. [url]
• A copper surface covered in copper nanorods can increase the energy efficiency of bringing water to a boil by an order of magnitude. The nanoscale and microscale textures encourage nanobubbles and jump-start the boiling process. [url]
• Nanostructures made from metal-coated viruses create the right textures on a surface to boil water three times faster. This kind of surface probably won't be sold in cookware, but it could make power plants more efficient in the future. [url]

After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

Filed Under: boiling, cookware, energy, flare pan, heat transfer, nanorods, nanotech, nanotechnology, phase change, water