Paris sewers turned into renewable heat source

A pilot project in the french capital is using sewage waste-water heat to warm a nearby primary school and in a later stage, along with others, the Presidential palace. The city of Paris wants green sources to fuel 30% of its energy needs by 2020. The new heating project, which is a collaboration between the city’s water department and two other companies, is the city’s first using power from the sewers.

The energy that goes into heating water for dishwashers, washing machines, showers and sinks usually goes to waste, but now it will be recovered. A steel plate is installed in the pipes where the sewage flows fast enough to maintain a constant temperature. The steel plate comes in contact with the waste-water and has a series of pipes through which a coolant ciruclates. The fluid is directed to a heat pump that concentrates the heat as high a temperature as 60 degrees Celsius.That heat is transmitted through the school’s HVAC system, which will heat the rooms.

The harnessed heat can only be used within 200 metres (656 ft) of its source – making it impractical for city districts lying far away from the sewage network. This means in theory 10% of Paris could be heated in this manner. The city plans to implement the system in additional schools, government buildings, and eventually; the Élysée Palace – the Presidential home.

The technique requires no combustion and it’s said that only the heat is recovered from the sewer water, not the smell.

Read more: The Montreal Gazette

Waste heat-powered thermoelectrics find investors

Rather than burning stuff to make electricity, a handful of thermoelectric-technology companies are trying to tap waste heat as an energy source.

Phononic Devices yesterday said that it raised $10 million to further develop and commercialize its semiconductor material for converting heat into electricity and efficient cooling. Investors in the series B round were Venrock and Oak Investment Partners.

The Raleigh, N.C.-based company is improving on technology originally developed at the University of Oklahoma that can be embedded in small chips. Initially, the company plans to make modules for refrigeration or cooling electronic equipment.

Twee weeks ago, another thermoelectric company, Alphabet Energy, said it has received two contracts worth $1.48 million from the U.S. Air Force and Army. The San Francisco-based start-up, which licensed technology developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will develop prototype thermoelectric chips for mobile power generation products that run on waste heat.

Thermoelectric chips use materials that are relatively efficient at converting a difference in temperature into a flow of electricity. Similarly, they can also take electricity and remove heat. Cooling with solid-state devices has been done in small refrigerators for years.

The challenge for thermoelectric technologies is making semiconductor materials that are relatively inexpensive and efficient at the heat-to-power conversion. In addition to cooling and portable power, thermoelectric chips have been tried on cars where engine or exhaust heat is used to power electronics.

Phononic Devices received a $3 million grant from the Department of Energy ARPA-E program for funding research into clean-energy close to commercialization.

Via: news.cnet.com

Electra Therm’s new waste heat converter

Electra Therm  has developed a technology to convert ‘waste heat ‘into electricity. The Green Machine is enable to create clean energy from  from heat thrown off as a buy product of manufacturing of other operations. It is the first commercially viable heat generator. What Electra Therm’s technology has also in common with geothermal technology is that it requires no fossil fuels and creates no emissions.

Making waste heat is the newest source of clean energy. But it is rarely include as a renewable energy source, because waste heat derives from factories and plants that run on fossil fuels. But it meets defintion of both clean energy generation as well as energy conservation.

The Green Machine has an output of 50 kW of electricity generation, placing them in the small medium size segment of this business.  In the lower output there are currently more creations of  converting waste heat to electricity. For example the Green Turbine   1-15 kW is  a  mCHP solution that uses existing waste heat to produce power, (electricity) heat and/or hot water.  It  can be driven not only fossil fuels, by any fuel type : natural gas, propane, waste heat Biomass, fuel cell, solar PV Thermal.

http://www.examiner.com/x-23776-Reno-Marketing-for-Renewable-Energies-Examiner~y2009m11d1-Waste-heat-is-the-low-hanging-fruit-of-clean-energy

http://www.electratherm.com/

http://www.greenturbine.eu

Both Gas- and Steam to power EV battery range?

Nick Kurczewski is writing about extremely small (gas) turbines, which can extend the travel range of electric cars in his blog on the website of Green Car Advisor. He’s talking about the Dutch company MTT en the Israeli Company EVT Motors, but he forgets to mention Green Turbine BV. Although Green Turbine is mostly suitable for hybrid cars (the turbine can use the waste heat of the motor), it also can be used in electric cars with a gas turbine, because waste heat of a gas turbine can be used to drive Green Turbine.

So, what exactly is the Green Turbine?  Well, it’s a small (slightly larger than a football), lightweight and silent micro steamturbine with an output in the range of 1-15 Kw. It converts steam to electricity and also produces heat in this process. It can be driven by any fuell type (natural gas, propane etc.), waste heat, biomass and fuel cell.

Green Turbine

The turbine has been developed in the past five years by a small company called Green Turbine BV (it has also a Canadian version which is the company Green Turbine INC. info@greenturbine.net

Green Turbine is not developing a prototype, it actually has a working prototype. The only thing left, is the long term testing which is starting at the end of October.

Green Turbine can extend the efficiency of hybrid cars by 20-30%. As previously mentioned, it captures the waste heat of the engine exhaust and converts it into electricity. We calculated this percentage based on the following:

In hybrid or fuel cell cars about 10% of the waste heat can be recovered and converted to electricity. As waste heat is about 75% of the total energy input of a car, this 10% is substantial. It will boost total efficiency of a hybrid automobile between 20 – 40%.

Imagine what Green Turbine could do in an electric car, when it is placed after a gas turbine!

www.greenturbine.eu

http://blogs.edmunds.com:80/greencaradvisor/2009/10/jetsons-anyone-micro-turbines-could-give-maxi-boost-to-ev-battery-range.html

Fifth phase Doe program succesfull

The  installing  and testing of thermoelectric waste heat recovering generators in BMW Group and Ford vehicles by Amerigon Incorporated, is a  critical step forward in the development of  a cost-effective energy waste heat  system and power generation  into vehicle production.

There  has been made much progress in this fifth phase of the funded program US Department Engergy (DOE), studying the use of thermoelectric systems to converte waste heat from automobile engine exhaust into electrical power.  BSST, a subsidiary of Amerigon,  is being led  this  program. The DOE program intends to  improve automobile fuel economy and supports the DOE’s objectives of reducing dependency of foreign energy imports and lowering greenhouses gas emissions while supporting the increased electrification of vehicle powertrains.  The DOE will contribute approximately $ 1,1 million in funding and BSST wil offer an additional $ 370.000 for this fifth phase of the project, which has a targeted completition date of March 31, 2010.

BSST was founded in 2000  to develope advances in themoelectric systems. It’ s  mission is to provide highly efficient, effective, and practical solid -state temperature control and power generation solutions to industry.  Through sustained research and development the team  of BSST will going on with  the technology by improving  the science of thermoelectric  technology.

BSST is working very hard to advance  the technology  of thermoelectric devices particularly as it applies to heating and cooling’ said  Amerigon President and Chief Executieve Officier Daniel R. Cooker. ’ Their efforts  are agreeing  fully with government and private industry, aimed at pushing the variety of uses for thermoelectric technology beyond our current automotive seating application. In the next few months we hope to  report you more about the  progress with this program and others.’

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/industrials/amerigon-subsidiary-bsst-test-thermoelectric-waste-heat-recovery-bmw-group-ford/