Question

An inventor suggests that a house might be heated by using a refrigerator to draw energy as heat from the ground and reject energy as heat into the house. He claims that the energy supplied to the house as heat can exceed the work required to run the refrigerator. This: A. is impossible by first law B. is impossible by second law C. would only work if the ground and the house were at the same temperature D. is impossible since heat energy flows from the (hot) house to the (cold) ground E. is possible

Answer 1

Yes, it is possible. You will need a good appreciation of the 2nd law of thermodynamics to see why.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_pump