Eco-friendly and economical home heating and power

Any household, business or public building that currently uses gas for space or water heating can now efficiently produce electricity – with about half the CO2 emissions of an advanced large-scale Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (“CCGT”) power station:

1. Coal power stations produce about 1,000 kgs of CO2 per MegaWatt hour (MWh) of electricity generated. This is well over double the 400 kgs of CO2 per MWh for a CCGT (natural gas) power station.
   
   
2. It is surprisingly simple to generate electricity on a very small scale with a marginal output of only about 200 kgs of CO2 per MWh. The trick is to make use of co-generation in an unconventional way. Instead of setting out to generate electricity and then trying to find a use for the “waste heat” that is created, it is far more efficient to only produce electricity when you need “useful heat” - say for hot water or space heating.
   
   
3. For a large-scale CCGT (natural gas) power station, HALF of the heat produced by the natural gas fuel is wasted!
   
   
4. Any small natural gas fuelled electricity generator can convert at least 20% of the heat energy from natural gas into electricity, leaving 80% of the heat energy to be used exactly as it is at present by existing natural gas users. Purchase 25% more natural gas – and see ALL of this extra fuel converted into electricity. (The marginal thermal efficiency for the additional natural gas consumed is 100%.) Note that large central power stations cannot supply electricity at a price or efficiency that can compete with this process. And you avoid the need for huge investments in the electricity distribution grid too. Win-win-win.

Home-owners can now save money and energy resources, and reduce reliance on the electricity grid. For an example, watch this video on the freewatt Micro-Combined Heat and Power (MHCP) system for household use.

More details from the early 2003 development of the freewatt unit are available in this paper - An Introduction of MCHP Unit for Residential Use
by
Bill Bezilla, Manager/ Principal Engineer
Honda R&D Americas, Inc. North Carolina Center
and
Mikio Imai, Chief Engineer
Honda R&D Co., Ltd. Asakahigashi R&D Center

Open publication - Free publishing - More backup power

For further reading - on transitioning an economy from dependence on fossil fuels (natural gas) to renewable energy resources (bio-methane) - see this sustainable energy webpage.