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by cyberax 551 days ago
> I'm confused how the heat retention could be around 80-90% without expending a ton of energy.

Imagine two air streams counter-flowing. They "swap places" within your heat exchanger, so you can (theoretically) get 100% heat recovery.

This principle is used by animals to minimize the heat waste, by counter-flowing warm and cold blood: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rete_mirabile