Welcome to Cool Energy (applying Sterling engine technology)

[kristopher]

Welcome to Cool Energy

Imagine a home power system that uses only the free fuel from the sun to generate heat and electrical power, day and night, all year long through the use of simple solar thermal collectors and heat engine technology. Now imagine that the same core heat engine technology can also be used to recycle exhaust gas heat from engines and industrial processes – another free fuel harnessed for making electricity.

These are the two ways that Cool Energy is using its novel SolarHeart® Engine technology to provide savings to its customers. The SolarFlow® System home energy system enables home and building owners to cut their energy bills by as much as 75% and can provide U.S. homeowners annual returns of 20%. Each installation emits zero pollution saving each household approximately 6 tons of carbon dioxide pollution per year. The waste heat recovery systems are developed for military and remote applications, scenarios in which payback time can be as low as one year.

Economics for the SolarFlow® System system are most favorable in colder climates such as the northern U.S., Canada and Europe.
http://www.coolenergyinc.com/

Cool Energy Completes SolarHeart Engine

Cool Energy Inc. has announced the completion and operation of its third Stirling engine platform. The engine, called the SolarHeart engine, converts low-temperature heat into electrical power.

The SolarHeart engine will be integrated into a solar thermal system for homes and buildings to provide both heat and electrical power from free solar fuel. Optimized for users of heating oil or propane in colder climates (northern U.S., Canada and Europe), the system will reduce energy bills by as much as 75%, according to the company. The system will include high-quality evacuated-tube solar collectors and a storage tank that allows electrical power generation, space heating or domestic water heating all day and all night, all year long.

In addition to the solar application, the Cool Energy engine can utilize waste heat (e.g., exhaust heat of a diesel generator or industrial facilities) to generate electricity and boost the total power generated by as much as 20%, the company adds.
http://www.solarindustrymag.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.4081

[Turbineguy]

1. Sounds interesting.

Looks like they must be getting ready for an IPO.

I was getting tired of the laws of physics anyway.

[cliffordu]

2. Me too...

And while I'm at it, gravity sucks, too.

[madokie]

5. I know where you can find the answer

scroll down to #7 :rofl:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=212435&mesg_id=212464

[TheMadMonk]

3. You'd be surprised. Stirling engines can do all sorts of fun things.

Heat one side and cool the other and you get mechanical energy. Reverse the process and input mechanical energy and you can liquefy air.

If you can get enough sunlight to run a solar hot water system then a stirling engine will work. How much energy you get out is determined by how big a collector you lay out.

Can you achieve 100% energy selfsufficiency? probably not. Can you make a major dent in your energy bills? Almost certainly. Enough to justify the expense? Probably not until volume production pushes the price down.

[izquierdista]

6. Or you build it yourself

There are a lot of things those handy with tools can do to make themselves more energy independent. I'm doing it and if you want to collaborate with me, send me a PM. You can follow my progress here: http://www.solarpowerforum.net/forumVB/showthread.php?t=3531

[truedelphi]

7. You maybe hearing from me shortly

Thanks for the kind offer.

[Braulio]

10. Mine is better

I'm alsmost ready to patent a solar powered generator. All you have to do is pedal it to make it work.

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. Helpful article

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/22965/?a=f

Solar for Dark Climates

Solar technology that generates both heat and electricity could make solar energy practical in places that aren't sunny.

By Kevin Bullis

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Cool Energy, a startup based in Boulder, CO, is developing a system that produces heat and electricity from the sun. It could help make solar energy competitive with conventional sources of energy in relatively dark and cold climates, such as the northern half of the United States and countries such as Canada and Germany.

The company's system combines a conventional solar water heater with a new Stirling-engine-based generator that it is developing. In cool months, the solar heater provides hot water and space heating. In warmer months, excess heat is used to drive the Stirling engine and generate electricity.

Samuel Weaver, the company's president and CEO, says that the system is more economical than solar water heaters alone because it makes use of heat that would otherwise be wasted during summer months. The system will also pay for itself about twice as quickly as conventional solar photovoltaics will, he says. That's in part because it can efficiently offset heating bills in the winter--something that photovoltaics can't do--and in part because the evacuated tubes used to collect heat from the sun make better use of diffuse light than conventional solar panels do.

The system is designed to provide almost all of a house's heating needs. But the generator, which will produce only 1.5 kilowatts of power, won't be enough to power a house on its own. The system is designed to work with power from the grid, although the power is enough to run a refrigerator and a few lights in the event of a power failure.

…

[Kablooie]

8. Idea Lab in Pasadena tried for years to make an efficient solar sterling engine but couldn't do it.

I think the economics of the thing is what killed it so I wonder about this report.

[eppur_se_muova]

9. Note to Googlers: Stirling with an 'i' not 'e' ... nt