Wood pellet powered Stirling engine micro-CHP. Now!
Wood pellet powered Stirling engine micro-CHP is now a commercial product in Europe! This very strategic product is made by KWB of Austria, who currently refuse to sell into the North American market.
Prof. Jerry Cherney of Cornell University learned of this product last week and shared it with me today at Power Shift. This commercially available wood pellet fired micro-CHP system validates the subtitle of my 2006 Grass Energy Working Paper.
For more, see: http://www.stirlingpowermodule.com/
“The combination of the SPM module with a KWB pellet heating system ensures that wood, a renewable and domestic energy source, is optimally used for the production of heat AND energy, also in single-family homes. This power station makes it possible to produce a significant part of the annual energy requirement of an average single-family home by using the energy from a pellet heating unit.”
While this product is NOT offered in the US today, it clearly proves the point and shows what we could be doing!
This is a powerful concept and would enable us to build a bioenergy powered micro-grtrid solution for Vermont! Or we could start building out Al Gore’s Electranet today.
[Photo credit: KWB web site.]
2 comments permalink | Jock Gill | Climate Change, Community, Economy, Energy, Technology, Vermont
Great post, I have learned a great deal from monitoring your posts. thank you.
Do you know the reason why this wood pellet product is not available in North America?
I think the danger is that if products like these – which can clearly help to meet the energy requirements of domestic households – are kept off the market then the popularity if wood pellets as an energy source could start to wane.