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re: can we afford to produce electricity?
7 aug 1997
rabbo wrote:
>toby reiter wrote:
>>rabbo wrote:
>>> is it feasible to place small and environmentally acceptable power
>>> stations close to urban settlements so that this energy can be used?
>>yes, but not for heating purposes. :)
why not? it's nice to make existing power plants as efficient as possible.
we may see fewer large ones in the future. small-scale cogen can be a lot
more efficient, using the "waste heat" (typically 2 kwh of heat output for
every kwh of electrical output) in ways that are impractical with a large
power plant out in the boonies.
i think the brooklyn navy yard project of york research uses 4 siemens gas
turbines with an electrical output of 286 mw. some of their 600 mw(?) "waste
heat" keeps about 400 business offices warm. their 22 mw "combined-cycle
combustion turbine" provides heat for the warbasse middle-income housing
project in brooklyn...
intelligen has a tiny 5 kw home cogen system. fossil-fueled cogen seems like
an interim step for the next 50 years, as oil and gas and coal get more
expensive and pollution concerns grow. technologies like roland winston's
concentrating solar troughs may take its place, but as long as we burn
fossil-fuels, we might as well do it efficiently...
we don't need fossil fuels for heat, given the sun.
nick
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