All electrical utilities, coal and gas-fired power plants, the electrical distribution grid, oil refineries and chemical plants all produce a tremendous amount of wasted energy as heat, that is a byproduct of their production process. (i.e. all motors, generators and copper wires loose electicity as heat). In the electrical distribution system in the USA in 2001 for every 12.2 exajoules of electicity that was produced, more then twice as much or 27.3 exajoules were lost as waste heat.
(see the blue coloured flow stream in the diagram abive)
And the worst thing is, you and I pay for that wasted energy in our electricity bills, just read the fine print.
In the next two posts I'll explore some smart solutions.
Today I want to look at a Canadian company that has a solution to this waste problem by turning this excess heat back into electrical energy using an innovation called an atmospheric vortex engine or AVE
From The Economist Magazine print edition Sep 29th 2005
Alternative energy; The power of spin
Harnessing artificial tornadoes as an energy source
"WEATHER systems, as the world has recently been reminded, have awesome power. The energy released by a large hurricane can exceed the energy consumption of the human race for a whole year, and even an average tornado has a power similar to that of a large power station. If only mankind could harness that energy, rather than being at its mercy.
Louis Michaud, a Canadian engineer who works at a large oil company, believes he has devised a way to do just that, by generating artificial whirlwinds that can be controlled and harnessed. He calls his invention the “atmospheric vortex engine”.
His idea works on a similar principle to a solar chimney, which consists of a tall, hollow cylinder surrounded by a large greenhouse. The sun heats the air in the greenhouse, and the hot air rises. But its only escape route is via the chimney. A turbine at the base of the chimney generates electricity as the air rushes by. A small solar chimney was operated successfully in Spain in the 1980s, and EnviroMission, an Australian firm, is planning to build a 1,000-metre-high example in New South Wales. But the efficiency of such a system is proportional to the height of the chimney, notes Mr Michaud, which is limited by practical considerations. His scheme replaces the chimney with a tornado-like vortex of spinning air, which could extend several kilometres into the atmosphere.
This vortex would be produced inside a large cylindrical wall, 200 metres in diameter and 100 metres tall. Warm air at ground level enters via tangential inlets around the base of the wall. Steam is also injected to get the vortex started. Once established, the heat content of the air at ground level is enough to keep the vortex going. As the air rises, it expands and cools, and water vapour condenses, releasing even more heat. This is, in fact, what powers a hurricane, which can be thought of as a heat engine that takes in warm, humid air at its base, releases cold, watery air at the top of the troposphere, about 12 kilometres up, and liberates a vast amount of energy in the process. (Just as water requires heat to make it boil, it releases heat as it condenses back into a liquid.)"
The Canadian startup, called AVEtec Energy Corporation founded by engineer Louis Michaud has Canadian and US patents on the technology.
From the company marketing collateral, we get the following:
Business:
We create value from waste heat.
Thermal power plants, refineries and chemical plants all pay to dispose of waste heat. In fact, thermal power plants only convert 1/3 of the heat they produce into electricity, and they pay to get rid of the remaining 2/3 as waste heat. By imitating the way nature uses 30°C temperatures to produce vast amounts of energy, we can produce great value from 40°C waste heat.
Products:
The Vortex Cooling Tower("VCT") adds spin to the rising plume of a cooling tower, forming a vortex that serves as a virtual chimney. This creates an artificial draft that eliminates the need for fans (which can consume 1% of the power of a power plant using forced draft cooling).
The Atmospheric Vortex Engine ("AVE") goes a step further and uses this draft to produce 'green' electricity, increasing power output by 20% without any increase in emissions.
(Alternatively, the AVE can use warm sea water or a solar greenhouse as the energy source.)
De-polluting environmental products - clouds, rain, global cooling, moving stagnant air, cleaning and venting of stack gasses.
Markets:
VCT - The USmarket for cooling towers is $1B per annum. The primary users are thermal electrical generating plants, refineries and chemical plants.
AVE - The US electricity market is $270B per annum. The AVE can be an add-on to any new or existing thermal power plant, using waste heat as energy source or it can be a stand alone power source in the tropics using warm seawater as the energy source.
ETA
2005-2006 --a working prototype exist.
The firm is looking for alliance partners and investors to build a full scale model
Contact Information:
Email Brian Monrad VP Fianance and Corporate Affairs and say you read about AVE's on the Smart Economy blog
© 2005-2006
Expert, Consultant and Keynote Speaker on Emerging Smart Technologies, Innovation, Strategic Foresight,, Business Development, Lateral Creative Thinking and author of an upcoming book on the Smart Economy "
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