The second part of the system captures heat wasted during the first part, which usually sneaks up the chimney or otherwise vanishes unnoticed, and uses it to provide space heating or hot water.

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With players from both teams standing on the court as the final seconds ticked off and Pacers fans roaring in appreciation, the sellout crowd wasted little time breaking into chants of "Beat The Heat!"

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Legge notes that newer fossil fuel plants use the heat that was once wasted to turn an extra steam turbine, a process known as combined cycle.

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In 1994 a study found that 55% of the heat produced in Tomsk was wasted.

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Although a lot less energy is wasted through heat than in the case of a traditional light bulb, some heat loss still occurs.

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Dr Kanatzidis is developing new thermoelectric materials designed to be capable of converting up to 20% of the heat that would otherwise be wasted into useful electricity.

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Meanwhile central heating is sometimes wasted on the whole house when you only need heat a room.

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The Kers system stores energy that would otherwise be wasted as heat during braking, then reapplies it during acceleration to provide a boost in power, controlled from the cockpit by the driver.

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Indeed, on the tiny residential scale think about how much energy is wasted when you heat up a whole kettle of water to make just one cup of tea.

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With a combined heat and power plant, some of those 76 wasted BTUs that were going out the stack are captured, generally as steam or hot water that can get piped around and used for heat.

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