A few years ago, a good friend of mine who worked for the Oregon Dept of Energy took a trip to
Freiburg, Germany, so see some of the innovative things going on there.
One of the most interesting ideas he saw was an apartment building which was very well insulated, and which derived all of it's heating and electrical power from a Ford V-8 in the basement, probably running on Natural Gas. I didn't know it at the time but what he was describing was a CHP (Combined Heating & Power) setup (AKA:
CoGeneration).
Unfortunately I don't have a photo of it. However, the engine is hooked to a generator, and the heat from the cooling water and from the exhaust (normally thought of as 'wasted energy') is used for building heat.
In fact the setup was designed so that when the Ford V-8 was running harder in the chilly German evenings, the extra electrical power generated by the CHP was sold back to the power companies.
Here is a report of CHP activities going on in Mississippi, with photos:
http://www.propane.tx.gov/research/d...CHPSystems.pdf
Here's a picture from it:
Looks to me that if a small unit CHP unit were combined with a heat pump, it would be very efficient, indeed.
A water-cooled generator would be quieter and last longer, and the heated water would be easier to handle and store... could even run it through a hydronic floor heat system.
The trick is to find a small, sturdy water cooled engine...
Here's a link to a very interesting small engine, water-cooled, propane/natural gas powered generator that is designed for heavy use.
And here's a
monster link for further inquiry.
And I did find conversion kits to change over small generator engines to Propane & Natural Gas
Here
And Here
But, locating a small, sturdy engine that's water-cooled, hmmm.....
As further food for thought, a Ton of AC = 12,000 BTU/hr = 4.715 hp
Regards,
-AC_Hacker