20 KW Gas Fired CHP Furnace in Your Basement?

Lichtblick and Volkswagen are pushing a plan to install 100,000 20KW gas fired CHP furnaces in the basements of Hamburg residents. The furnaces would provide hot water, space heat, and electricity for the homes. Any excess electricity produced would be shunted to the power grid.

Although the generators are not a new concept, the project is novel in that Lichtblick would retain control over the plants after their installation.

Households would pay around 5,000 euros (7,250 dollars) to have the generators set up along with an appropriate heating system.

But individuals would then pay a lower price for heating and receive a modest "rent" for hosting the generator, as well as a bonus at the end of the year calculated on electricity revenues that resulted from Lichtblick's sales. _PO_via_Impactlab

Perhaps a better approach would be natural gas powered fuel cells for homes, functioning as CHP devices. They would produce plenty of heat, and considerably more power than the less efficient combustion furnaces. Several Japanese companies are pursuing the home fuel cell approach.