Heat Pump Water Heaters
Why aren't there integrated systems for heating/cooling? (Or maybe this exists and I just don't know the proper terms to search for)<p>We have multiple cooling devices: air conditioning (dumping heat outside) and refrigerators (dumping heat inside). Then we have multiple separate heating devices: furnaces and hot water tanks that burn electricity or gas to generate heat.<p>I've always thought it would be more efficient if these units were all connected with some kind of coolant loop, and a heat pump / control unit that could route heat/cooling to where it's needed.<p>I did find a similar system for connecting air conditioning to heat a swimming pool (instead of outside condenser unit), which is pretty neat, but I'm thinking bigger. If you're going to dump excess heat anyway, might as well use it to heat water, at least.