Energy | April 21, 2008 |
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.
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Comments By Readers
Thanks for this post. I'm actually associated with Recycled Energy Development, the company you mention that's featured in the Atlantic article. Here's a key stat to remember. About 69% of our nation's greenhouse emissions come from the production of power and heat; only 19% comes from cars and light trucks. If we really want to do something about greenhouse pollution, we can't focus on gas mileage, though that's important; more critically, we must make our energy system vastly more efficient, and that's what RED is trying to do. The key now is loosening regulations that give monopoly protections to utilities and prevent efficient alternatives from competing.
Oops, forgot to give a plug, if you'll indulge me: if you'd like more info on the topic, our backgrounder is here: http://recycled-energy.com/documents/media-kit/backgrounder.pdf
Thanks again -- and I'll try to keep it to one comment next time!
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