Energy for (almost) free

If something is being thrown away, and can be turned into something valuable, that should count for an uptick in productivity, and a good business if the actual turning process isn't too costly. The folks at ElectraTherm claim a process that turns waste efficiently into useful energy. Specifically they capture hot exhaust and turn it into electricity. Energy recycling. Here's ElectraTherm's process chart:

This process taps a huge, largely untapped resource. Think of the hot exhaust coming out of any high-rise in Los Angeles or Las Vegas in summer. Heat produced by any large server farm. Or industrial pig farm. Exhaust from an oil refinery or coal-burning power plant. Exhaust from any neighborhood restaurant on Friday night. Turn all that into electricity--why not?

ElectraTherm is based in Carson City, Nevada. The company announced today they're intending to locate a second manufacturing facility in another part of the U.S. And now they're weighing proposals from numerous other states and cities. ElectraTherm says they've sold two dozen machines so far, and expect to sell another 75 fifty this year. A trend any manufacturer would envy, even in time sof economic boom.

This month marks a one year anniversary of the installation of the first ElectraTherm converter on the SMU campus. That ElectraTherm at SMU is actually generating 20% more power than projected. Here's my first ElectraTherm blog, written shortly after that installation at SMU.