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The term "thermal energy" is often used ambiguously in physics and engineering. [1] It can denote several different physical concepts, including: Internal energy : The energy contained within a body of matter or radiation, excluding the potential energy of the whole system, and excluding the kinetic energy of the system moving as a whole.
As a form of energy, heat has the unit joule (J) in the International System of Units (SI). In addition, many applied branches of engineering use other, traditional units, such as the British thermal unit (BTU) and the calorie. The standard unit for the rate of heating is the watt (W), defined as one joule per second.
Almost half of the final energy consumed in the UK (49%) was in the form of heat, of which 70% was used by households and in commercial and public buildings. Households used heat mainly for space heating (69%). [2] The relative competitiveness of renewable electricity and renewable heat depends on a nation's approach to energy and environment ...
It is used to model exchanges of energy, work and heat based on the laws of thermodynamics. The qualifier classical reflects the fact that it represents the first level of understanding of the subject as it developed in the 19th century and describes the changes of a system in terms of macroscopic empirical (large scale, and measurable) parameters.
As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly via combustion to produce heat, or converted to a more energy-dense biofuel like ethanol. Wood is the most significant biomass energy source as of 2012 [ 103 ] and is usually sourced from a trees cleared for silvicultural reasons or fire prevention .
Alternatively, a heat pump can achieve around 150% – 600% efficiency for heating, or COP 1.5 - 6.0 Coefficient of performance, because it uses electric power only for transferring existing thermal energy. The heat pump uses an electric motor to drive a reversed refrigeration cycle, that draws heat energy from an external source such as the ...
A heat engine is a system that performs the conversion of a flow of thermal energy (heat) to mechanical energy to perform mechanical work. [32] [33] A thermocouple is a temperature-measuring device and a widely used type of temperature sensor for measurement and control, and can also be used to convert heat into electric power.
The majority of the world's thermal power stations are driven by steam turbines, gas turbines, or a combination of the two. The efficiency of a thermal power station is determined by how effectively it converts heat energy into electrical energy, specifically the ratio of saleable electricity to the heating value of the fuel used.