Jotting these down so I can revisit them later.
First, I'm thinking about a spherical (read: dome-shaped) house. Cover the outer wall in solar panels, and segment the interior the same way a normal house is - that gives you space for insulation, an attic, water heater, etc. Run the hot water lines along the inner wall of the dome, so in summer these lines will lower the temperature of the air between the outer wall and inner wall (thus decreasing the amount of energy needed to heat the water as well) and in winter they can heat that same air space - combining in a decent increase in efficiency for heating and cooling the building.
The house would also have pretty fantastic structural integrity, if the dome was constructed well. That is to say it'd be more storm resistant than your average building, since any wind shear applied to it would distribute across the outer wall.
The only downside I can really see is that the aesthetics are a bit odd. Dome shaped house, after all.
Second, (this requires a bit of technical knowledge, as I don't have time to explain all of it right now) the alternator in a car uses a set of magnets spun by the circular force created by the engine to generate enough electrical current to keep the battery charged. A fan uses an electrical engine based on the same concept to generate circular motion.
So...why not line the outside of a fan with the same wiring and magnetize the fan blades? Sure, it isn't going to generate enough power to run the fan, but it will seriously cut down on the energy usage of said fan - which could create some pretty significant efficiency increases in certain applications (say for instance the gigantic fans involved in larger air conditioners.)
That's all for now, aside from some random theory-based bits. I'll probably come back to this stuff later.
- C
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