Wasted Heat Could Power 20 Percent of U.S.

An article in this month's Atlantic Monthly says companies that capture the waste heat as part of their manufacturing process could produce one-fifth of all the electricity needed in the U.S.

Not all of this excess heat could easily be turned into steam power and electricity since for some companies the electricity would surpass their needs -- a nice problem to have.

According to the article, the U.S. economy wastes 55 percent of the energy it consumes and trails Europe in implementing processes that simultaneously produce combined heat and power (CHP).

To take advantage of this readily available energy supply, a company called Recycled Energy Development has organized funding for $1.5 billion of projects that will harness what is now waste heat.

These are the kind of projects that the tax structure and the Congress need to focus on. They eliminate carbon and save money and can possibly generate revenue for the producers. This is the definition of doing well by your stockholders and doing good for everyone living on the planet.