3 ms·

> I wonder how practical and safe it would be to build fusion pants close to city centers in order to harvest the excess heat for district heating The cost/ben

> I wonder how practical and safe it would be to build fusion pants close to city centers in order to harvest the excess heat for district heating The cost/benefit for doing this seems pretty similar between fusion as gas power. We don't usually do this with gas, so I guess it's probably not viable for fusion.

markvdb 6mo ago
Combined heat and electricity production is uncommon in the US, but much more so in Europe. Especially in the Baltics, Scandinavia and the Netherlands, non-CHP generation is rare. Related: higher energy cost, and elaborate local heat distribution networks.
nerdsniper 5mo ago
Many cities/towns in the USA have small power plants in them (typically associated with a University, large hospital system, or central business district) which "sell" not just power, but also hot water, and steam. The steam is typically used to heat buildings. Google for "$CITY steam tunnels" or "$CITY CHP plant" to find these in your area. San Francisco has[0][1][2][3] at least five combined heat and power plants that generate electricity and also sell steam to neighboring buildings via 72,000 feet of pipes. I worked at a privately-owned for-profit "factory" in Santa Monica whose primary product was chilled water (their other product was warm water). They built pipelines to nearby large buildings and sold chilled water to them. 0: https://cordiaenergy.com/locations/san-francisco-3/ https://cordiaenergy.com/locations/san-francisco-3/ (2 for-profit CHP plants) 1: Skanska (for-profit) 2: San Francisco General Hospital 3: Apparently there are some "Muni" CHP plants scattered about SF as well (publicly-owned)
dheera 5mo ago
> The cost/benefit for doing this seems pretty similar between fusion as gas power. The real problem is stupid capitalism reprices everything good to the price of the non-good thing. Solar was supposed to be almost-free clean electricity, but the price of panels has been repriced to make them the same as dirty electricity.
namibj 5mo ago
Look at where the Barmen gas power plant is in Wuppertal, Germany to see....

markvdb 6mo ago

Combined heat and electricity production is uncommon in the US, but much more so in Europe. Especially in the Baltics, Scandinavia and the Netherlands, non-CHP generation is rare. Related: higher energy cost, and elaborate local heat distribution networks.

nerdsniper 5mo ago

Many cities/towns in the USA have small power plants in them (typically associated with a University, large hospital system, or central business district) which "sell" not just power, but also hot water, and steam. The steam is typically used to heat buildings. Google for "$CITY steam tunnels" or "$CITY CHP plant" to find these in your area. San Francisco has[0][1][2][3] at least five combined heat and power plants that generate electricity and also sell steam to neighboring buildings via 72,000 feet of pipes. I worked at a privately-owned for-profit "factory" in Santa Monica whose primary product was chilled water (their other product was warm water). They built pipelines to nearby large buildings and sold chilled water to them. 0: https://cordiaenergy.com/locations/san-francisco-3/ https://cordiaenergy.com/locations/san-francisco-3/ (2 for-profit CHP plants) 1: Skanska (for-profit) 2: San Francisco General Hospital 3: Apparently there are some "Muni" CHP plants scattered about SF as well (publicly-owned)

dheera 5mo ago

> The cost/benefit for doing this seems pretty similar between fusion as gas power. The real problem is stupid capitalism reprices everything good to the price of the non-good thing. Solar was supposed to be almost-free clean electricity, but the price of panels has been repriced to make them the same as dirty electricity.

namibj 5mo ago

Look at where the Barmen gas power plant is in Wuppertal, Germany to see....