DOE Announces New Projects to Advance Residential CHP
CHP generates electricity and captures otherwise wasted heat for water and home heating
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) has announced funding for 12 new projects as part of ARPA-E’s program: GENerators for Small Electrical and Thermal Systems (GENSETS). The GENSETS projects are aimed at developing generator technologies that will improve efficiencies in residential combined heat and power (CHP) systems.
Compared to conventional electricity generation, CHP captures the otherwise wasted heat and makes it available for useful application. By making CHP affordable for home use, this heat can be used for water and home heating, reducing homeowners’ energy costs. GENSETS project teams will develop advanced generators to produce electricity from piped-in natural gas while using the waste heat to reduce the energy used by furnaces and water heaters. Widespread adoption of CHP systems in the residential sector would lead to significant energy savings, along with increased reliability for the residential power supply and a reduction in CO2 emissions.