One person’s trash is another’s treasure – including waste heat. The Green Machine is ElectraTherm’s solution to creating inexpensive electricity from just such a source. It pulls waste heat to heat liquid, which turns to vapor, which rotates a turbine, which creates emissions-free electricity. The cost is about $0.04 per kWh during the three-year “payback” period, and less than $0.01 per kWh thereafter. Cheeeeep.
The Green Machine was just tested at Southern Methodist University where demonstrated cost-effective electricity generation can be done on a smaller scale. During the test, the Green Machine beat its projected 50 kilowatt output, producing more than enough electricity to provide power to forty 2,000 sf homes, all with waste heat – in other words, a hell of a lot of green electricity for a tiny bit of money.
This handy machine is inexpensive to create as well, costing about 30% less than any turbine-based system. Running without gearboxes, expensive electronics, oil pumps, filters, and a whole mess of other parts associated with similar products, maintenance costs are kept down. It pulls electricity from sources such as stationary engines, industrial manufacturing and process plants, geothermal sources, and the like. Therefore, any place with a significant source of waste heat could use the Green Machine to create extremely low cost electricity.
I think thermoelectric gadgets are relatively underutilized. When we hear solar this and solar that, seeing something like the Green Machine makes me optimistic for seeing a bigger variety of practical, economical solutions for turning what we waste into something we want.
Via JetsonGreen, cnet
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Comments (16)
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written by Corban, June 02, 2008
If we plugged one of these up to a corporate data center, they'd be set. Those places generate a metric assload of heat!
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written by kballs, June 03, 2008
Guess what? This is the perfect companion for a solar thermal collector. ;D
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written by Mike, June 03, 2008
Recycling is good. Turning waste into power is the pinnacle of eco-minded design (in my humble opinion). It's cheaper, more efficient, and more profitable to design something can be used throughout different stages of it's life.
BRILLIANT!
BRILLIANT!
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written by Andrew Leinonen, June 03, 2008
I love this idea. I've always wondered about this sort of application (seeing the success it's enjoyed in raising the efficiency of combined-cycle natural gas plants), and it's great to see that someone's developed a feasible system for utilizing all that waste heat.
Now if only I could get one for my attic apartment this summer to power a couple of fans...
Now if only I could get one for my attic apartment this summer to power a couple of fans...
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written by Bob Carver, June 03, 2008
I've been following this project for the last year and it's nice to see they're finally getting some attention.
However, another project I'm involved with will be able to directly generate electricity from room temperature heat. We are waiting for a patent to be issued before releasing the details.
However, another project I'm involved with will be able to directly generate electricity from room temperature heat. We are waiting for a patent to be issued before releasing the details.
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written by Thaer, June 04, 2008
hi sir
my name is Thaer mahmood
I own a combany name Al - Arjwan com
I wild lik to now mor about your gnerator price how had bowr 250 K.V
to make my choise , you now iraq is
had bilding know and we are part of that .
pleas send me uor affers and prices of your gneritor you had .
regret
Thaer
my name is Thaer mahmood
I own a combany name Al - Arjwan com
I wild lik to now mor about your gnerator price how had bowr 250 K.V
to make my choise , you now iraq is
had bilding know and we are part of that .
pleas send me uor affers and prices of your gneritor you had .
regret
Thaer
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written by Wasted Cooling, June 05, 2008
Yet another thing that makes you go duh! Why didn't we think of that earlier. On a similar note, I had a modification done to my central air system a few years ago called Powerzoning. This takes the cold air from my basement to sort of "pre-cool" the return ducts. If I run my furnace fan in "on" mode instead of "auto" it takes the cold air and distributes this throughout the home, resulting in my air conditioner having to kick on less. It's amazing to me that this isn't more common in the HVAC trades. It makes sense.. cold air falls, hot air rises. Why not use that cold air before paying to cool down other air?
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written by foo, June 05, 2008
What exactly are forty 2,000 sf homes? 42,000 sf homes or 40 sf homes from the year 2000? Or is 2,00 a brand of home they have in sf? Whatever they are I'm pretty keen to see one of these Science Fiction homes.
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written by Russ Bailey, June 08, 2008
İ guess no one bothers to look at the Electratherm web site before writing the rather silly comments.
You need min 200 deg F water and 400 deg F gas - not a home fit. Not a fit for a solar panel!
İ have trouble thinking of a company that goes without waste heat recovery in recent years. too much money lost
For industry, the concept is correct - does this machine perform as advertised? The claims are written aimed at getting investors money more than anything else it seems to me.
You need min 200 deg F water and 400 deg F gas - not a home fit. Not a fit for a solar panel!
İ have trouble thinking of a company that goes without waste heat recovery in recent years. too much money lost
For industry, the concept is correct - does this machine perform as advertised? The claims are written aimed at getting investors money more than anything else it seems to me.
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written by wtf, June 08, 2008
You don't need 200 deg F and 400 deg.F steam to generate power.There is a geothermal power plant in Alaska that uses a glycol solution to produce power at 183 deg F and does not generate steam.The expansion of the fluid creates the pressure to drive the gen.SO with a small modification to the system a solar power system using directed mirrors could generate enough heat to create power.I don't need to hear about The sun doesn't always shine crap,its just a thought.We all know the problems involved with solar power.Reference the story from popsci.I might have some info wrong,but not the requirements for 200deg F and 400 deg F.
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written by boohoo, June 09, 2008
I had a modification done to my central air system a few years ago called Powerzoning. This takes the cold air from my basement to sort of "pre-cool" the return ducts.
It’s called Cogeneration and it is done for many commercial buildings, hospitals and government facilities. In general it's expensive and requires an engineer to design the system and work closely with the building contractor. I am not sure what you spent, but in general it costs way too much for the average family, who would have to refinance their house to get a loan big enough to install such a system. This also doesn't consider the payback/savings over decades (yes, decades). A solar system installed on a typical 3 bedroom house roof costs about $14,000 USD and takes about 15 years to pay off including energy savings. This kind of stuff will only become mainstream if the government offers rebates for installing it, otherwise we should really just forget about it.
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written by Arthur, June 10, 2008
I am surprised that more people have not yet invested in Solar Energy. Consider how many people buy a new car every year or two. Very few cars give one any return on their "investment". If a car actually paid for itself in savings over a 15 year period it would be considered a great buy.
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written by Nicola Terry, June 10, 2008
I am amazed that Russ managed to find any technical information on the electratherm website. It all seems like marketing fuzzy wuzzy to me. What is the thermal efficiency of this device? Generally speaking, you need a lot of temperature difference to get a sensible amount of electricity. Cogeneration is normally run the other way around - that is you generate electricity and use the waste heat to heat something else, such as a building.
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written by Chethan, June 20, 2008
hi am chethan, am into one mission(ashram).we have some 5-6acers of land of which 70% of it greenary and we accumlate lot of waste from plants like dry leaves, roten fruits and stuff... Help me out to generate electricity from these waste so that i can help my mission from getting huge electricity bill Please help me !!!!
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written by Stever, July 02, 2008
Arthur wrote, "If a car actually paid for itself in savings over a 15 year period it would be considered a great buy." Actually a car does pay for itself multiple times during its lifetime. All I have to do is add up all the time saved by driving vs. some alternate form of transportation including public transit, walking, biking, etc. For every mile I drive at 60 MPH, it takes 20 minutes to walk at 3 MPH; 3 minutes to bike at 20 MPH; and about 2 minutes per mile by public transit. Assuming I travel 10,000 miles per year, that is a whopping 200,000 minutes I save over walking, 30,000 minutes I save over biking; and 20,000 minutes over public transportation. Assuming my time is worth $40.00 per hour, I save $133,333 by driving over walking; $20,000 over biking; and $13,333 over public transit. And this does not even include the convenience and comfort factor. I realize these are quick and dirty calculations, and that a number of people will want to contest my assumptions. So be it! The truth hurts - doesn't it? Why don't you try calculating your time value at $10.00 an hour. A car still pencils out as being the more efficient form of transportation - easily paying for itself.
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written by sally, October 23, 2009
I am a suburban home owner. In a previous home I had solar panels on my roof which ran my hot water heater. Now I live further north and wonder about the attic turbine fans which are turning from wind and attic heat. Could they be hooked up to a generator? Just wondering.
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