Comments on: 'Power plants' in the basement heat up

Combined heat and power system sized down to the average home packs on-site power generation and high energy efficiency.

[sanenazok]

This would be great

If it included a tankless water heater. That just eats gas or electricity for almost no purpose. I'll be replacing my furnace in 7-10 years so this may be a practical option then. Probably won't work in Illinois since the utility has a stranglehold on politics on all levels here and it benefits good olde ComEd to be in "crisis" mode all the time.

[climateguy]

Water Heating

Climate Energy is working on a domestic water heating solution to offer as an option on future models.

[itsmescotty]

Wind, Solar. . . great idea BUT

Basic flaw I see in 'FREE' solar and Wind power is BATTERIES. Yup, folks solar and wind produce DC voltage, that is STORED in BATTERIES that are then inefficiently converted to AC thru a motor generator or solid state electronics. Where does this lead in the overall picture? A HUGE amount of lead acid batteries OR NiCad OR LiOn or or or that need to be replaced. Now we have serious environmental concerns to satisfy. There is NO FREE LUNCH on a regular basis. I'm not bashing, honest. I don't have any alternatives (I wish I did) I'm just presenting the ugly side of the 'FREE' picture that no one else does.

[Sparky672]

For sure... and the systems are still too small.

I agree.

Add to that the simple fact that an average house needs to
approach 7 to 10 KW for total electrical independence from the
grid.

Solar: Forget it, you would need open space 30 times larger
than your roof plus a butt-load of batteries and support
electronics.

Wind: Better than Solar since it generates A/C and you don't
need batteries. You'd still need the electronics and a typical
home would require two to four 4000 Watt generators on poles
80 feet off the ground at a self installed cost of about $20K
each.

[Too Old For IT]

Just one comment about wind & solar

You generate more electricity per square foot of facility with nuclear than any other source. And until you change the laws of physics, this fact will not change.

In addition, you generate fewer greenhouse gases than coal, oil or natural gas-fired plants. Bonus!

All the "alternative energy" cheerleaders need to get on the nuclear bandwagon before the next run-up in the Middle East. Hells Belles, if we had been building nuclear power plants for the last 20 years (a) the designs would have gotten better, (b) the plants would have become more efficient and (c) we could tell OPEC to stuff high oil prices in their collective turbans.

[Mark Greene]

And let's up fuel-economy already (while we're at it)

Let's offer subsidies or tax breaks for finally implementing all of
the efficiency increases we've been hearing about for years.

[Scott479]

MPG from 1984

Just a short note-in '84 we bought a Honda CRX 1.3 and managed an honest 60mpg across the AZ. desert and for many years after picked up 50mpg around town. Who knows where we'd be if Americans hadn't become vehicular gourmands with our Selfish Urban Vanities gulping down fuel.

[hjr29]

Nice work but it's not the only microCHP out there

Nice work from this company. However, the claim by Guyer that there's nothing available on a micro-scale is not true. WhisperGen (www.whispergen.com) in Christchurch New Zealand has already done exactly the same thing. Their's is based on a stirling engine and provides both electrical power and heat. Both have a similar size and spec.

Still, it's nice to see people working on these machines. It's all about using energy more efficiently instead of throwing it away.

[climateguy]

North America

I don't believe that the WhisperGen system is available for purchase in North America. I believe that Guyer's statement was talking about what is available specifically in the US.

There are a number of micro-CHP systems either being used or in development worldwide, but this is the only complete heating system package in North America.

[FrankTaylor121950]

I Question the fuel source

Where I live, Natural Gas is not Available, and Leahy's Fuels has upped my propane rate to nearly $3 per gallon. I heat water with $3 fuel !!

I'd like to know what would happen if this was tied to FUEL CELL technology. No dangerous fumes as a result of combustion, no physical tie to the volatile (cost wise) fuel market, renewable.

It might not produce heat -- but the bigger issue is dependence on companies that seem to fall into today's "model" of stealing from the consumer, and happily reporting it as "Record Profits" (Exxon/Mobil this week)

So, that said, what are the downsides, and costs associated with fuel cells producing power in homes? How about refueling? How about the results.

Blessings,
Frank Taylor

[Sparky672]

Still requires energy

Downsides:

- Fuel cells of any substantial size are extremely expensive.
- You still must supply a "fuel" to a fuel cell usually Hydrogen.

Fuel cells produce heat. How much depends on the size of the
cell.

In the Fuel Cell:

You input fuel (Hydrogen) to the cell and out comes water, heat,
and electricity.

To get the fuel (Hydrogen) for the Cell:

You break apart water molecules using electricity.

Although you'd be purchasing a fuel such as Hydrogen, how
expensive is the Hydrogen? Hydrogen manufacturing requires
electricity. So now you are transferring the consumption of
electricity from your location to the Hydrogen plant. One could
argue that this would be more efficient by consolidating the
electricity usage in one location. Perhaps. On the other hand,
you must then consume more energy to transport all that
Hydrogen to various homes.

[Scott479]

Where'd we be if MPG of 1984 was built upon?

Just a short note-in '84 we bought a Honda CRX 1.3 and managed an honest 60-mpg across the AZ. desert and for many years after picked up 50-mpg around town. Who knows where we'd be if Americans hadn't become vehicular gourmands with our Selfish Urban Vanities gulping down fuel. This was a small car-not for everyone-but had this platform been allowed to evolve we'd no doubt have fleet mpg in the upper 40's twenty three years later. Instead we look to complex hybrids with an impossible payback not to mention an electric charge that has to come from a source burning its own fuels.

[geraldbirch]

Renewable energy

I've spent the last 20 years educating college students. I receive
tremendous satisfaction nurturing our most important natural
resource, the minds of our youth. It is with these minds, bright
hope for our future exists.

I most recently discovered a program that addresses another
extremely important resource, renewable energy. We now
depend upon foreign sources and exhausting supplies. The toll
of energy dependence costs us lives defending foriegn resources
could create global warming and ever increasing costs The
sun provides enough fresh energy in one hour to supply the
entire earth for a year. Viable systems to capture and use that
energy that are cost effective and easy to maintain have not
been available.

I have been introduced to a company that will install and
maintain a system on our houses that will supply all our
electrical needs. The cost for power is fixed at todays rates for
up to 25 years. To good to be true--read on.

http://www.jointhesolution.com/kevinbirch

[solarguy]

Micro-CHP power system

Nothing I have read so far explains why this technology is available on such a limited scale. It appears it will only be offered in the Northeast US in the foreseeable future, and there is no info available on any timetable for expansion to other areas. I would buy it tomorrow for my home in Northern California - in conjunction with my solar system, it could solve just about all of my power problems. Why can't the media apply pressure to someone to get this made available to more people across the country?