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re: waste heat, I've been thinking forever that someone must capture this. I've generally assumed the economics don't work out or no one has cracked it outside
by alexeldeib 7y ago
re: waste heat, I've been thinking forever that someone must capture this. I've generally assumed the economics don't work out or no one has cracked it outside of scenarios like regenerative braking. We waste so much energy that we could capture and put back to use.
- rfrey 7y agoSomething like 55-60% of the thermal energy created by burning fossil fuels is currently wasted.
- maxxxxx 7y agoIt’s kind of ironic that cars and power plants work hard on getting rid of that energy.
- CHsurfer 7y agoModern power plants work hard at getting every last bit of that energy before it escapes. Current Combined Cycle plants, that generate steam from the exhaust of a gas turbine, are currently getting over 60% efficiency.
- pfdietz 7y agoOne must be a bit careful there. 60% efficiency based on the LOWER heating value of natural gas. That ignores the heat available from condensing the water of combustion. Coal plants typically use the higher heating value when computing efficiency, which does reflect the latent heat of vaporization of that water.
- dragontamer 7y agoI know ICE engines use turbochargers to "recapture" the energy. Exhaust can be used to power the intake fan, which can increase air-pressure available to the engine's intake.
- maxxxxx 7y agoTurbocharged engined still need a ton of cooling but yes I think they are more efficient overall .
- sanj 7y agoRegen braking doesn’t use waste heat. It converts mechanical energy back to electrical.
- Gibbon1 7y ago> We waste so much energy that we could capture and put back to use. The biggest current waste of energy is residential heating. We take high quality energy in the form of natural gas and fuel oil and use it to produce low quality heat. Co-gen systems burn fuel to generate electricity and use the waste heat for heating buildings.