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Micro CHP – a simple idea with big potential November 16, 2006

Posted by Al in : design,future,home,interesting , trackback

I’m not sure how I hadn’t heard of this technology before today. I’m also amazed that the technology behind a Micro CHP (Combined Heat and Power) boiler has been around since 1816, yet has only come to fruition in the last 5 years or so. It’s so amazingly simple – your boiler heats up water, that’s it. A Micro CHP boiler heats up water and uses the process to generate electricity which can power your home, or even feed power back into the National Grid if you don’t use all the power generated. So not only do you save money by not buying as much electricity as before, but you can also earn money by selling your surplus electricity back to your provider. Currently only PowerGen seem to offer Micro CHP’s in the UK – this may mean I end up switching provider as I am rather taken with the idea of having a Micro CHP installed.

Micro CHP’s are also good in an environmentally friendly manner. They reduce the amount of electricity which needs to be generated by power stations, which are quite wasteful still. They also reduce the transportation cost required, although the National Grid will still need to be in place, so this is negligible. But the big saving would come if enough people had Micro CHP boilers in their homes – it’s estimated that 13 million Micro CHP’s would produce the same amount of electricity as Britain’s nuclear power stations – so these could then be closed down. Micro CHP’s also help to reduce Carbon Dioxide emissions by an average of 20% per household. Although gas would be required to power these beauties, their efficiency would reduce gas usage, and there is a hydrogen fuel cell version currently available which could finally make it possible for you to have a self sufficient house which might not even have to have any external power supplies – although this is a little way off in the future.

Comments»

1. Matt Fairy - May 2, 2007

Hi Im Matthew Fairy, I have just signed contracts for the first 4 Ecopower micro CHP systems being installed in the USA.

I will feedback information as the installs progress

2. Al - May 3, 2007

Thanks Matthew. Please do let us know how they work out, as CHPs seem to be such a great idea that I would seriously consider investing in one – as long as it worked the way it should.

If anyone else has tried a CHP, and can preferably give some reliable figures on what kind of savings they made, then I’d be very interested in hearing about it.