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  • From: "Kelly Finigan" <kfinigan@spots.ca>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] energy futures
  • Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 12:13:27 -0700

Hi:

"3) Biomass Combined Heat and Power"

"CHP" otherwise known as "cogeneration"...been widely used in Europe, now
catching on in North America at industrial sites. It is the "co"-generating
of two products at once - electricity and useful heat. In "ordinary"
electricity generation, e.g. coal combustion, the result is usually about
30% electricity and 70% "waste" in the form of heat. Co-generation takes the
heat (through a series of heat exchangers) and puts it to use. Industrially,
it is used to heat up water for steam or to make a chemical reaction occur.
In Denmark, the heat (steam or hot water) is put into pipes and made
available to the buildings in a certain area ("District Heating"). Inside
the buildings are radiator systems to distribute the heat. Overall system
efficiencies (usefulness of the energy in the original "fuel") approach 80%
to 90% (for newer electricity plants).

I think this is a great idea where you can do it...extends the work from
your fuel (fossil, biomass, solar etc) from about 30% to almost triple!

However: you need a USEFUL way to use the heat and a way to get it
there..this can present challenges. First, almost everybody has to do it for
the economics to make sense - you can't just install a system to heat three
houses over here, two more four miles away and the odd guy out in the woods -
you need a majority to "buy in" and to be relatively close together.
Second, where I live, everybody has an independent forced air heating system
(no pipes between buildings, no radiator systems)...my gut feel (maybe
someone could challenge/confirm this with facts / figures in the future???)
is it would be better to keep the existing infrastructure and upgrade our
buildings rather than put in new infrastructure...I suspect
weatherstripping, insulating and adding a "solar engine" would be energy-
wise and economically cheaper than bringing NEW pipelines down the street,
installing NEW heat circulation systems (e.g. radiators), throwing away the
old infrastructure and then having the privilege of paying the utility
company to send you hot water/steam across town. Third, I think there may be
some social resistance in some places - around this ultra-conservative
territory, where everybody is "independent" and proud of it - hooking
everyone up to the system might even be perceived as "socialist"...

Beyond these challenges though, I think that CHP is great and would
recommend it especially if: there is an electricity plant IN your town and
a "matching" heat requirement nearby (you might aproach the utility and
convince them that by upping the "system" performance, they benefit
by "offsetting" their greenhouse gas obligations), you are making a new
suburb / ecovillage and wish to produce electricity, or are planning a
combined thermal electricity (preferably biogas,wood or geothermal) plant /
pig barn / aquaculture / greenhouse / mushroom operation.

ciao,
Kelly


: very heavily used in Denmark. Up to
> 90%
> > > efficiency.
> >
> > And what's the mechanics of these, too (regardless of fuel source)?
>
> hi:
>
> we (writing from austria) call them Blockheizkraftwerk (BHKW) -
> http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/ translates this as: communal
> heating/power station; thermal power station - some explanations
> with some nice diagrams can be found at http://www.htl-
> steyr.ac.at/htlde/ak/3proje/peak/peak2.htm - in german, but
> diagramms are pretty universal, i would reckon.
>
> keep diggin,
> georg
>
> * * *
> Georg Parlow
> g.parlow@zartbesaitet.net
> http://zartbesaitet.net/gp
> A-1230 Wien, R.Zellergasse 70/4/1
>
> http://zartbesaitet.net
> die Webseite für hochempfindliche Menschen
>
> _______________________________________________
> permaculture mailing list
> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture

--
Kelly Finigan, M.Sc. P.Eng. Permaculture Designer
~ Sustainability consultant & ecological designer ~

744 - 4 Street NW
Calgary, Alberta T2N 1P2
phone 1-403-283-7270




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