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Electricity Generator Gets Its Power From Waste »

Posted by: cactushair 3 months, 1 week ago

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Dallas' Southern Methodist University is now recycling energy with one of the first commercial electricity generators that use thermoelectricity - the act of drawing power from waste heat. The machine operates by using heat given off by other processes (such as manufacturing) to boil liquids, which then turn into steam...

Read Full Story at gizmodo.com

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Comments So Far: 13

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Endoscopy3 months, 1 week ago

A lot of little generators.
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Dicax_Maximus3 months, 1 week ago

One wonders why BIG business hasn't cottoned onto this idea ???
Makes very good sense to me !!!!
Thanks cactus....
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  Francisca3 months, 1 week ago
  
  Because they always are waiting for someone who finds for them: it's less difficult!
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canadianrancher573 months, 1 week ago

I like the idea although using water still means you have to have a real good source of heat to actually get enough pressure to run a turbine, if they used a liquid like anhydrous ammonia you start to get pressure at a very low temp. although it is slightly more dangerous.
Here's a thought for some of those people with engineering degrees, the internal combustion engine really wastes alot of energy in heat, at the present time we only make use of the power produced by the expansion of the gasses when they burn in the cylinder, with all the talk of hybrids why do the not generate electricity for the batteries from the exhaust heat, we talk of how advanced we are but we always seem to overlook the obvious.
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  GHOSTWHOWALKS3 months ago
  
  Standard practice by those who engineer things. They always look for the complicated solution without ever bothering to consider the obvious.
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EDWARDIII3 months, 1 week ago

Has the sound of a scam. First off, water boils at 212, not 200. Wake me when they have a pilot plant that turns a profit.
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  quackpot3 months ago
  
  The system uses an organic liquid that boils at less than 200 degrees.
  Good morning, Edward.
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    bill29363 months ago
    
    Actually the article says this:
    By boiling water up to 200Â°F, the generator can produce from 25kW to 1MW of fuel-free, emission-free electricity.
    Of course 212F is not the boiling point of water, it is the boiling point at sea level pressure. Decrease the pressure of the water, the boiling point decreases (High altitude recipies). Increase the pressure of the water and you increase the boiling point (nuclear PWR reactors).
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TonyByron3 months, 1 week ago

It seems that if this was a cost-effective process it would be in wide use. Turning heat into mechanical power to drive generators is how virtually every power station works.
The term "thermoelectricity" is misused here, it is usually used when describing the direct generation of electricity by an electronic device.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectricity
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bill29363 months, 1 week ago

Before people start tooting their horn on this one, it is called cogeneration. Chemical plants and refiners have been doing this for years.
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  GHOSTWHOWALKS3 months ago
  
  Maybe but every refinery I helped repair and that includes every major oil company didn't use trash to make power.
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    bill29363 months ago
    
    Note the story says they are getting the power from 'waste heat' not 'heat from waste'. They are using the leftover heat from other processes, the same as using the waste steam from a cogen facility.
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Emmanuel703 months ago

Thanks, Cactus.
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