OT - generating electricity from natural gas at home

I should go away from the computer for a while and get a life.

However the various electricity generation threads and an enquiry about portable generators made me wonder if a generator could run off natural gas instead of LPG.

Google found me

formatting link
in turn made me wonder how much more expensive it would be to generate electricity from natural gas than to take an electricity supply from the National Grid. Given that we are paying for all the infrastructure, green subsidies etc. as well as the cost of generating the electricity there must be an overhead on the electricity supply.

Then again if coal is far cheaper than gas I may just have answered my own question.

Nice looking bit of kit though, and might become more popular if rolling brownouts come back to haunt us.

Cheers

Dave R

Reply to
David WE Roberts
Loading thread data ...

formatting link

IIRC you need to get close to 60% thermal efficiency before its cheaper than the mains.

That's impossible with domestic kit.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

formatting link

Just bumbled onto a site talking about CHP (combined heat and power) which looks interesting but I don't really believe the numbers. Also, it gives a relatively modest output of around 1Kw so looks just an exercise in getting the FIT.

Oh, and gas lighting, gas cooker, gas fridge (whatever happened to gas fridges - saw a Gas Board advert in an old paper for one), gas heating. All you need is a gas powered computer and TV and you could get down below

1Kw :-)
Reply to
David WE Roberts

Genuine question: but if one can make safe[1] use of much of the "waste" heat in a combined heat and power scheme the sums may be different, especially in the frozen North[2]?

[1] I assume sticking the generator in the corner of the living room don't count [2] or with a partner like mine: shes wants the thermostat at Warp Factor 9 from early October until end -April
Reply to
Robin

I had a small involvement in that 20 years ago. Truck engines run off mains gas, generating electricity; the pay back depends entirely on mains electricity v gas prices and having a heat demand 24 x 7 x 365. They used to install the generating sets free, sell the user the electricity and give them the heat for free.

The domestic ones being offered by BT and others are small Sterling engine jobs.

Reply to
Onetap

formatting link
> which in turn made me wonder how much more expensive it would be to

Based on my current gas/Lx tariff of 2.46p (gas) and 9.92p (lx) That genny set would cost about 13p /kwh to run at optimum load so would cost more to run than grid power.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Minchin

Yes. Years ago, when I had a surfeit of both fermenting cowshit and an old Austin (?) petrol genset, I was working on this. There was plenty of gas, there was even hot water (hacked gas boiler) to heat the cowshit fermenter (solar, but in Ireland) and generated electricity. In the end though, it seemed simpler to get a divorce.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

What a splendid post.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

Well I hope we don't get power cuts as this house is all electric.

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Maybe you could use the waste heat in some way?

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

formatting link

CHP is actually semi sane and really average domestic consumption is in the 1Kw AVERAGE area.

So, by disregarding teh peaks and the troughs and the 80% bit of their carbon footprint that ISN'T domestic at all, people can buy expensive s**te and pat themselves on the back that they are 'self sufficient' in electricity or some such bollocks.

I want my own nuclear Aga dammit.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

That was not what was being either asked or answered

Of course you can.

But the OP asked about the costs of making electricity from gas, not heating their homes with it as well.

And by and large for most of the ear that would in any case be more heat than most people actually need.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Gas fridges are used widely in caravans.

The gas television appeared in a Tony Hancock radio sketch back in the fifties when the hero disconnected himself from mains electricity.

Another Dave

Reply to
Another Dave

on Sun, 12 Feb 2012, Dave Liquorice remarked:

My grandpa didn't want his house converting from gas lighting to electricity (in the 1930's) because he said it wasn't possible to be sure the electricity was a stable replacement.

Reply to
Roland Perry

As a kid a local old house had two old Dears in it. It never had electricity. Gas lights in all rooms, gas cooker, gas fires, and gas wash boiler with a manual agitator and gas fridge. They used a battery radio. Their house was always cosy with old furniture around. The house was immaculately clean.

Parts were available for the gas lights at the time and one was replaced by a newish Veritas wall unit, which I think area still available. They had candles to get around at night between rooms if they needed to with lighting the gas lights. They always went to bed be just as it was getting dark, making the best use of daylight.

Reply to
Doctor Drivel

Some systems dervived from the original 'Fiat Totem' concept are apparently reaching about 80% efficiency. Can't find a source though!

Reply to
The Other Mike

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.