Honda and Climate Energy Team Up with Freewatt

I would recommend every TreeHugger visitor (and the TH staff) to read - or re-read- "PLAN B2.0" by Lester Brown.

He aptly describes that with a good amount of certainty all energy sources mentioned in the above article to be unsustainable. Natural Gas peaking just as oil, all crop sources are in danger by the falling water table and "freak weather", etc. -- the staggering list goes on and on.

The only energy sources we must invest in are the ones that burn, refine or extract stuff;
Wind, Solar, Tidal, Geothermal - period.

Why we as a highly educated civilization must refuse the energy which is freely available, escapes me completely.
Our actions would only be logical if mankind had a subconscious desire to ring in those pesky "end times" the bible is talking about ......

Micro-CHP provides a real altnerative for average homeowners to make an enviromental difference.
Yes, it does operate on natural gas fuel, but the gain in efficiency over the traditional ways we use fuel to provide heat and electric power to our homes is huge. Super efficiency is a very practical next step on the way to a fully renewable economy. We shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. A hard nosed assessment of cost and benefits will show micro-CHP can provide about 80% of the environmental benefits of a total renewable energy system, but at less than 20% the cost increment. By the way, the incremental cost of our system over a traditional natural gas heating system is rather modest, providing a good and real payback in electric power savings while providing enhanced homeowner energy security.

Eric Guyer
CEO Climate Energy, LLC.

In response to Ms. Lepisto's article on the Climate Energy freewatt system, the $13,000 price that she mentioned does include installation. Obviously, the price would vary depending upon the installer and the difficulty involved in any particular installation. Thanks for the great article.
Thomas reed Manager, Climate Energy LLC

--ed. note:---
The article has been corrected to note that the price includes installation. Thank you to Climate Energy for the information.

FreeWatt can help GlobalWarming.

Yes, it does operate on natural gas fuel, but the gain in efficiency over the traditional ways we use fuel to provide heat and electric power to our homes is huge.

But this sort of begs the question, doesn't it? What happens when natural gas becomes 10 or 100 or 1000 times as expensive as it is now? When the average North American can only obtain natural gas by tanker from Asia or Europe? Shouldn't new installations focus on technologies that don't expose the consumer to market volatility?

As far as I understand it, natural gas production is subject to a steeper dive after peak than petroleum. So these problems will come up soonish. Since the manufacturer isn't providing anyone with any sort of price guarantees for fuel, this is less an environmental problem and more a question of pure economics in my book.

Interesting, and almost cost-effective too.

A machine like this could save you about 3 cents an hour if you need heat most of the year, in that its a 1.2 kW machine, gas turbine generators are only 50% efficient, and electricity costs about 6 cents an hour (where I am at least).

Over 20 years, a machine like this would save you just over $5000, so economically it's not a great deal yet. Maybe if gas and energy prices go up to where they should be, tech like this will become a good deal.

Nice......

I've been keeping an eye on this. I haven't seen any specs as to energy usage. My current boiler, which is in need of replacement very soon, runs for about 2-3 hours twice a day in the dead of winter. So if the run time were the same on the freewatt it would produce 4.8 to 7.2 kwh per day or 20% of my usage.

Since the gas meter needs to turn in order to produce electric is it actually going to be economically feasable running it for 12 or 24 hours to produce enough electric to make a dent in my daily usage?

It may not be perfect but it surely beats my Oil Burner every way possible.

So how does the freewatt system stack up against AISIN'S 6.0kw GAS ENGINE COGENERATION?

What's the oil consumption like over the life of the unit? How frequently does the oil need to be changed? How do the emissions compare to a standard NG heating system?

As for another user's comment "The only energy sources we must invest in are the ones that burn, refine or extract stuff; Wind, Solar, Tidal, Geothermal - period." - Doesn't the slowing of the water currents contribute to global weather instability?

It looks to me to be a boiler attached to a generator. When it works slows down the electric meter by 1.2 kW???

Money wise worthless. Am I missing something? probably more expensive in the long run given the amount of oil or gas needed to heat the water AND run the generator too!!!

Gimmick, like the GE fluorescent and mercury laden light bulbs
Adam

I wish that I had known about this new Climate Energy earlier. Would love to have one of these to save on energy and to gain electricity at the same time. I just purchased a new Lennox furnace and air conditioner three months again.

With regard to some of the comments made above I would lilke to state:

1) Oil consumption is nill. No oil needs to be added between oil changes and oil changes are needed only about every 2 years of normal operation. This is equvilent to 300,000 miles in an auto....quite amazing.

2) It is disappointing to see individuals suggest the the freewatt system is a fade or a hoax. In reality it is product of the diligent and honest efforts of some of world's best enginering and manufacturing talents to produce a product that is meaningful advance of the current state of the art of home energy technology. It is not perfect. We would like it to be perfect. But we at Climate Enegy deal with realities of today's energy situation. In reality, often perfect is the enemy good. Of course, at Climate Energy we are open to suggestions from anyone who has constructive alternative ideas that are based in technological and business realities of today.

3) Our list of happy "Green" homeowners who have purchased freewatt grows everyday. They have purchased freewatt becuase its a smart thing to do and the vast majority of energy and enviromental experts see micro-CHP as an important part of our energy conservation future.

Eric Guyer
CEO, Climate Energy

Why can't I buy the pwoer unit as a stand-alone device to integrate into my existing home teating plant?

I have a hydro air system with a large hotwater storage capacity for a future solar collector implemenation.

By forcing people to by your warm air furnace you limit the apeal of the device.

Can I just buy a GE160EV?

My old boiler died in October and I now have a freewatt ready boiler in my basement saving me money as I wait for the freewatt + generator which will give me stand-by power when the grid fails on us as it does often.

My calculations show that the difference in cost between this package and a hi effenciency, like a german Budarus, I will pay back my costs in less than 5 years, and will save me about $1,500/year from that time on at today's rates.. currently at $.20/kwH. That's the economics.

Saving the Planet... I can also appreciate now that the freewatt will cut my carbon foot print by 67%, not totally green like PV but it sure is a good start. Think of the impact if everyone in my power system did a freewatt!

13K for an installed unitl. My 20yo boils burns $3,600 in fuel a year and that's at these prices). My Electicity bill is something like $2,400 per years.

so for a 5 year payback will my heating/electical drop to about $2,500 per year. Are the saving that dramatic?

thanks.

Has anyone owned one of these long enough to comment on reliablitiy and repair issues?

I can't understand some peoples mentality regarding about not wanting to drill for natural gas on Alaska's north slope. We all want cheap energy and obviously if we continue to block all exploration and development we will have to continue to send our money overseas to the majority of people who want to hold us hostage to outrages high rates. The majority of them are not our friends and use our money we pay for energy to fund terrorists.
I am probably one of the most "green" Republican conservative persons in Anchorage. I own two hybrid cars (Prius and Highlander). I think the idea of a small co-generation plant which will run off NG a great idea.
By the way I have lived and worked on the North Slope and the last time I checked there arn't any trees there to hug.
If any one wants to do a "Timothy Treadwell" there are pleanty of hungry bears up there that would be glad to see you though.
Jim
Jim

I can only hope that those of you grasping for your doomsday slant on every new environmentally friendlier product do not live in America.
I’m a tree hugger at heart, engineer by trade and realist by instinct. Here’s a product that could easily change the face of efficient power production in America and I read comments like “Money wise worthless” and “what happens when natural gas becomes 10 or 100 or 1000 times as expensive”.
Let’s say this became a nationwide standard for America, not this product, but something like it, we have what, 100,000,000 homes? Do the math. Even if only those who currently use natural gas would make the conversion we’re looking at a huge payback. I HATE hearing childish comments from people living in tiny countries where they can boast about how small they are and how small their carbon footprint is. Welcome to the industrial age where 300 Million or more people need to live and breathe. In America we commute in 8mpg Hummers and heat our homes with 70% efficient furnaces. We’re willing to spend $60K on inefficient transportation. Why not spend $13K and see a return, even 3 cents an hour?
The minute anyone mentions the word “EFFICIENCY” there’s a line of armchair economists arguing that it’s not the perfect solution. If you have a better solution or can make something more efficient, streamlined or environmentally friendly, bring it on. Perfection comes one stroke at a time.

I like the cogen technology. I like the high efficency gas boiler and hot water capabilities. The cogen electric power is just icing on the cake. I would rather gamble with future north american natural gas production rather than be addicted to foreign oil generated fuel oil.

Does the free watt system qualify for any existing state or federal incentives?

This is a great system, and co-gen in general is a great way to go--to take burning that was going on anyway (for heating) and derive not just heat but also electric from what would otherwise be 'waste' heat, converts a built-in INefficency in our technologies into a chance to capture enormous efficiency gains with much less hassle than most other proposed approaches.

As to natural gas, yes, it is a fossil fuel, but it is the ONLY RENEWABLE FOSSIL FUEL. Biomethane, the product of decomposition of organic matter, is captured even today for heat or power at many landfills, sewer plants, some manure piles (dairy farms in particular) but not enough of them, . there is an astonishing quantity of methane wasted into the air every day just in this country.

it is a marvelous fuel when captured, and a polluting greenhouse gas when allowed instead to escape into the atmosphere. It is about 20+times as strong a greenhouse gas as CO2. So, it is very much to our advantage to increase greatly its capture, from composting, farm lot conversion, active and retired landfills, and other installations in our country to capture this gas and feed it into the pipelines. it is being done now, in the millions of cubic feet of gas per day. we need to increase this by at least one order of magnitude
.
Until that becomes a reality, it is worth adding to the discussion that nat gas is produced in great abundance in no. america. this has obvious importance for energy independence.

finally, it is also important to note that it burns MUCH more cleanly than oil--especially fuel oil---and improves the air (and climate impact) everywhere it is deployed.

nothing is so clean as solar i guess, but we will need many technologies and fuels and innovations before we are through, and this one is a terrific help in that effort.

I really don't like the cogeneration idea using fossil fuels. You are going to burn more than you would using a high efficiency heater alone. It is a huge investment that IMHO would be better spent into renewable energy generation.
The other issue is that you are basically constructing a small (therfore: relatively INEFFICIENT in terms of ELECTRICAL power output) power plant. Only you are not going to run this investment continuously because most people live in areas where they don't need to heat 365 days a year.
I am also unhappy about the way freewatt advertises its technology. They compare cogeneration to a pure electrical powerplant and win hands down. If they would compare it to a cogeneration power plant like those smaller gas turbine plants in residential areas while they deliver their waste heat to residential buildings or deliver process heat to industrial installations (I don't know if there are any in the US but I know there are many in Europe). Overall I find their advertising is misleading the customer into thinking they would get 'free energy'.

At 13,000 dollars installed I can see the benefit, even if 13,000 did not included the install I still might try to get the system, However a local installer is quoting me closer to 30,000 installed. What am I missing? Also, I have e-mailed the company at least three times with questions and have not received an answer. I have goggled my questions, and other than a few press releases I cannot find much out about this unit. If anyone could point me to a forum or such discussing this product I would really appreciate it.

While this might not be a long term soultion to our energy problem its a step in the right direction. Its something we can do now and if the costs of the unit come down which it will in time more homeowners would be able to afford it.

I have followed this system for over a year and if you understand how it work it does make sense. You have a generator that makes electricity and backspins your meter. The byproduct of that process is heat, heat that is used for heating your home instead of being wasted. For low to moderate heating needs if I undersand correclty the boiler never runs. For time of high heating needed, times when the heat from the electric generation process is not enought the boiler kicks in as a backup and not the primary source.

I live in Miane and while we have some wind farms here the new proposed ones have run into the "Not in my backyard" issue. I would love to have a home powered by solar or wind but solar in Maine would be covered with snow 7-9 months of the year. In Maine our electric costs is high and this seems to make sense.

We have a lot of things we should be doing for energy efficeny and even recyling but we dont. We could also be capturing wasted heat energy in other ways. Thiink about a college dorm or hotel and all the engery that goes into heating the water thats used for shower and sinks. That waste heat then goes down the drain and we should have a system to capture the waste heat in gray water in large buildings like dorms, hotels. Just my two cents.