Conceptual design of a food complex using waste warm water for heating

Abstract The US Atomic Energy Commission has supported a small program at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to determine (i) how the heat in waste warm water from electric generating plant condensers can be transferred economically to controlled environments, such as in greenhouses or animal enclosures; and (ii) to suggest, in a conceptual effort, how the heat exchange system could be applied to an intensive food production complex which might be constructed near a power station. A heat‐using complex consisting of enclosures for fish, poultry, swine, and vegetable plants has been conceived with the goal of maximizing the use of heat and the wastes from the various operations by recycling. It is hoped that the concept will prove to be sufficiently attractive that a utility or an agribusiness company will undertake a small demonstration based on some of these ideas.