Home Power Generation
December 7, 2006 at 4:10 am
The problem with burning fuel to create energy is that it is very wasteful. Or at least it used to be. At one time, power plants were decked out with special cooling towers to release the heat (in the form of natural gases) created as a by-product of electricity generation into the environment. Inefficient and bad for the environment. Then someone realised that heat doesn’t have to be a waste product at all. And the so appropriately monikered ‘Combined Heat and Power System’ (CHP) was created, with its ability to create electricity and use the ‘waste’ to provide heating to systems with low thermal demands. Recently someone stumbled upon another revelation: household consumers need both electricity and heat. And so the ‘Micro Combined Heat and Power System’ (Micro-CHP) was born.
Thankfully somewhat smaller than its large-scale counterpart, the micro-CHP lays claim to being the future of home energy. So the important question – is it? This little box turns the CHP equation around on its head. Its primary function is to convert natural gas into hot water; the £200-£300 of electricity it creates a year is the by-product, and a rather wallet friendly by-product at that. Micro-CHP systems will achieve much of these savings through what is known as “generate-and-resell” or net-metering. This is a model wherein home-generated power exceeding the instantaneous in-home needs is sold back to the electrical utility. The micro-CHP gets the absolute most out of the fuel, 90% in fact. That’s three times more efficient fuel conversion than the power from the grid!]
CFCL, who manufacture the system in Australia, Europe and the UK anticipate that it will reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 60% when compared to current coal fired power stations. “Micro-CHP provides for more efficient and less polluting generation of electricity” said Julian Dinsdale, Executive Chair of CFCL. “Micro-CHP systems that produce both useful heat and electrical power for residential and office use are recognised as more fuel efficient generation systems than current centralised coal fired power stations. Further benefits are lower greenhouse gas emissions, and the fact they reduce reliance upon stressed network and distribution systems whilst generating electricity for use on site or sale back to the grid”.
The UK Government is certainly backing this new technology to succeed. As part of its drive towards greater energy efficiency it has established a number of initiatives to encourage the uptake of micro-CHP systems and support the market through the Energy Saving Trust and Carbon Trust. Back in April (2005), they effectively cut the VAT on micro-CHP systems from 17.5% to 5%. In ‘subsidising’ the micro-CHP against its less environmentally friendly equivalents, and establishing targets for the number of units, energy generation and greenhouse gas emission savings, the government trying to speed up the uptake of micro-CHP. And it’s thinking big in the long term. Of the 24 million households in the UK, up to 18 million are thought to be suitable for micro-CHP systems.
So is there any downside? The big drawback right now is the cost of the boilers and installation, currently between £2,500 and £3,000. Although this is expected to drop sharply once large-scale production starts, as it stands, the micro-CHP is something of a long term investment.
