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While solar heating has many advantages, there are some downsides in terms of efficiency and grey/night sky downtime. BlueGen is a relatively new, extremely efficient, low carbon emission form of energy generation.
It consists of a washing machine-sized generator which is powered by sophisticated fuel cell technology. BlueGen connects directly to the natural gas supply, converting gas into low carbon electricity.
It’s virtually silent and has the highest electrical efficiency (60 per cent), producing more electricity and using less fuel. When the thermal energy from BlueGen is recovered (for hot water use for example), total efficiency increases to around 85 per cent.
Typically, BlueGen produces over 13,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity on-site per year (around enough to power a large bodyshop for a quarter).
BlueGen’s heat recovery system can also generate up to 200 litres of ‘free’ hot water per day. BlueGen has even lower carbon emissions than combined grid and solar Photovoltaic (PV) power.
Energy generation 24/7
BlueGen generates electricity all year round, whatever the weather, providing a constant, stable source of clean electricity when compared to renewable energy. The unused electricity units generated at night when a shop is closed can be credited to the account for use in the day, depending on your local feed-in tariffs or agreement with the energy retailer.
Combined with solar panels, BlueGen’s electricity output can be increased at night or decreased in the day when solar panels are producing electricity.
When operating at normal capacity the unit uses about 9.5mj of gas per hour, much less than the average domestic water heater.
The downside? Well, that would be the initial price. Like all new technologies the unit price is high, in this case around $40,000, until the savings from volume manufacturing apply, which the company hopes will be in the next year or two.
More information from www.bluegen.info