Quote:
Originally Posted by AC_Hacker
I'm not sure that I see your point here...
-AC
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Natural gas is chemical energy. Converting it into mechanical energy will never be overly efficient, especially on a small scale.
Power companies buy their "chemical energy"
(or nuclear energy) at wholesale and the economies of scale minimize the losses in converting it to electrical energy. Even though there are losses in the electric transmission line and some in the electric motor inside the compressor,
it is not likely that a natural gas "powered" heat pump (compressor) will EVER be cost effective !
When fuel cells
(which convert NG to electricity directly) become cheap, the above statements probably will go out the window !
BTW, the Japanese have developed small fuel cells because in certain parts of that country electricity is hard to come by
(especially when all the nuclear plants were shut down). NG is expensive in Japan, but it those areas it was available.