Technology developed at Canterbury University by a 28-year old grad student and now being marketed internationally by state-owned Meridian is at the forefront of international moves towards energy conservation. But sadly it does not seem like Kiwi consumers are going to get the benefits any time soon.
WhisperGen is a nifty appliance about the size of a dishwasher that generates heat and electricity. It has been marketed for use on yachts and remote locations, but now it has energy buffs excited because of the potential for household use. It can heat the home, provide hot water, charge up the electric car over night AND release excess power back into the national grid reducing your electricity bill. I won’t try and explain how it works but the company website has a neat video that explains it.
WhisperGen is owned by Meridian which in turn is owned by us the people. Its maker WhisperTech recently set up a joint venture with the giant Spanish cooperative Mondragon to make 30,000 units a year for the European market where microgeneration is fast becoming a reality. Microgeneration is the production of electricity by home owners, usually by sticking a wind turbine or solar panels on the roof. Germany has led the way by increasing the price of electricity from non-sustainable sources, encouraging microgeneration, and allowing householders to sell their excess electricity back into the grid. This is known as two-way or net metering.
The idea behind the WhisperGen was discovered by Canadian power executive Gary Holden on the campus of Canterbury University of Canterbury in the mid-1990s. Holden:
What I found was a university laboratory with wires and gauges and pipes everywhere, and some sheet-metal contraptions to capture the heat. It was a relatively crude example of the technology. But I understood its potential back then, and when I asked the inventor—he was a 28-year-old grad student at the time—he said, ‘Well, my vision for this is to see one of these in every home in Europe.
Just about every country in Europe has regulated to require power retailers to install two-way metering, as has California and several Canadian provinces. Isn’t it about time we did the same? The downside of WhisperGen is that while it is super efficient it is still driven by fossil fuels (diesel, kerosene or gas). If they could just develop a version powered by electricity this Kiwi innovation could start helping us meet our 90% renewables target.
There’s two different topics in this mail Trev, the one is the Whispergen, the other reverse metering and they don’t have to go together at all. Reverse metering would be a very good and relatively easy first step to encourage people to invest in small scale generation in NZ. It would pay to adjust the RMA for that purpose as well. There is a lot of opportunity that is now stifled by red tape (such as small scale hydro, thermo, wind). Maybe you should focus on getting that first step in first.
Hey Phil, handy hint from an engineering student: you can’t run a Stirling engine off electricity to generate electricity – all you’d be doing is losing electricity. Conservation of energy, right. They run due to the heat source and the temperature difference. This design is super efficient because heat that is usually lost in combustion engines is harnessed and made to do useful work (e.g. heating household water).
The sad reality is the NZ Electricity market is an absolute mess, where the customer constantly gets shafted.Remember the power crisis in AK 10 years ago? Gensets in Queen St for god’s sake.
The naked greed of the players in privatization race, and the inflated prices they paid for electricity assets, left them saddled with debts they have sought to repay by gouging prices ever since.
Electricity is an obvious candidate to be classified as a strategic asset, and the dysfunction in our market stands as proof that the market model is not always appropriate.
Our electricity industry needs to focus on stakeholder value, not shareholder value.Until then, any challenge to the revenue stream
of the incumbents is doomed.
First thing is to sort the current cosy little cartel of generators and retailers and remove the rampant patch protection.
Until that gets sorted, Microgeneration faces an uphill battle,and Brownlee’s toothless review is only window dressing, to placate the gullible.
Thanks a bunch Max, still waiting for those savings you promised us!
For a minute I got really excited when I suspected Phil Twyford had discovered a pertpetual motion machine! Thanks for pricking the bubble Natalie, you science based rational person you. Back to science class please Phil.
@ Natalie & Gomango – You spoilsport Natalie. OK, the dangers of pontificating outside one’s area of expertise. Back to science class for me.
@ Dimmocrazy – You are quite right. They dont have to go together at all. Just that one led to another in my train of thought. Two way metering just has to be the way of the future. Who wouldnt want wind turbine on the roof?
I have a way of solving NZ’s power woes – build five gigantic coal-powered power stations on the west coast of the South Island.
The fact that disabled people have been being charged upwards of $500.00 a month just to keep warm is a national disgrace. Labour have essentially done nothing to remedy this during their time in office.
Bugger this ‘Sign On’ nonsense – cheap power to the people. The USA use coal for 70% of their power needs. The New Zealand poor pay the price for NZ’s clean green corporate image as they are being held hostage by robber baron power companies.
Good point Patrick, that’s precisely what we should do.
Also, as we have a few engineering types here by the look of it, I remember from science class that CO2 is readily absorbed into sea water, where it eventually turns into limestone. (Don’t shoot me if I’m wrong). I would imagine that a bunch of smarties should be able to come with a way of combining the facts that we have plenty of easy accessible coal, plenty of easy accessible sea water, plenty of labour, and plenty of spare land all on the West cost of the South Island, plus the infrastructure already in place to get all that electricity to where it’s needed. Looks like a no-brainer to me to get very cheap electricity to all NZ’ers and boost the economy to boot!
Stirling engines have been around since the 19th century and the principle is widely understood. Because they are closed cycle they are now routinely deployed in non-nuclear submarines.
Tom thats interesting. Do you have any links for my info? Just trying to work thru why a (presumably) diesel powered stirling engine would be more efficient than a diesel/electric system?
Auckland blackout in 98 was nothing to do with an electricity market failure – it was purely a management failure, ironically by a community owned company.
They ignored proper maintenance procedures and they ignored the operating procedures for their equipment. It’s all in the crisis report done after the event.
If anything the crisis could be blamed on prices that were too low to encourage investment in training, maintenance and monitoring instead of end of year rebates for consumers.
If the market is such a mess, how can it deliver energy to your home at a fraction of the cost it would be for you to generate your own power with a microturbine?
Two way meters are a trendy idea but there is a really good reason they are not being installed – there needs to be a cross subsidy from other power users to incentivise their introduction, because the cost of power is so low compared to the cost of fitting a microgenerator and meter.
So grannies and poor families with neither the money nor the inclination to install micro generation will end up subsidising rich people who can afford to install them on their lifestyle blocks and apartment rooves. What genius would support that outcome?
@ gomango
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine
Invented in 1816 and Natalie told you why it was more efficient. Technically, it’s still diesel electric it just has a more efficient method of capturing the power released when the diesel is burned.
This is a video showing one powered by solar concentrated through a Fresnel lens.
Technically, the invention is just someone dusting off old knowledge. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a great idea I just don’t think it should be called an invention when it’s been around for 2 centuries. I agree that 2-way metering should be mandatory as well.
Or it could be, and probably should be, blamed on the need to make a profit. Yes, I have seen the same basic mistakes made in privately owned companies as well and for the same reason – profit.
Insider, let’s talk about the two way metering issue here. The way I see this, everyone would still have to pay their fixed rates for maintenance of the grid of course. Meters could simply run slower in reverse as well if that was necessary to leave something of a margin for the ‘reseller’ (as these would effectively be doing the accounting for it). Effectively people would be simply selling their excess power to their neighbours, through the intermediary of the power companies. There should be some debate about what happens to the ‘margin’ on small scale power generators, if they generate more than they consume.
Fantastic, now there’s a way to reduce our carbon footprint without resorting to living like cave people.
Damn I commented before I read the thread.
gee thanks draco for clearing that up. I think most school c science graduates have heard of charles’ law.
What i was asking was why is the diesel powered stirling set up more efficient in a submarine than a traditional generator – reading the interweb today it seems like its not really, the stirling system seems to give no real advantage over other conventional power plants.
What we really need is this http://www.hyperionpowergeneration.com/product.html for baseline load plus renewables on top.