3 ms·
If you go one step further you end up at a much better solution. Since large centralized power generators are much more efficient, yet still put out prodigious
by calamari4065 3y ago
If you go one step further you end up at a much better solution.
Since large centralized power generators are much more efficient, yet still put out prodigious waste heat, why not use that waste heat to heat homes?
You get the benefits of an electric heat pump while recovering a large portion of the plant's waste heat.
District heating plus heat pumps is probably the most efficient you can make a combustion plant.
Once we get off of fossil fuels, we can recover waste heat from industrial processes, or convert the district heating system to be purely electric or concentrated solar or something.
- solardev 3y agoIt's a thing in big campuses, data centers, some municipalities, etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogeneration?wprov=sfla1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogeneration?wprov=sfla1
- RF_Savage 3y agoAttitudes about nuclear power are also changing and we are seeing more talk about using small reactors for district heating. Pushing all the "spare" thermal energy from nuclear plants into the sea or lakes has been a tremendous waste. Apparently while others talk about it, it is actively being worked on in China. https://www.nucnet.org/news/city-of-haiyang-first-in-country-to-have-district-heating-system-powered-by-nuclear-11-5-2021 https://www.nucnet.org/news/city-of-haiyang-first-in-country...