Reply To: Mind, Spirit, Science connection?

[Brian H]

mjv;
It’s important to keep the order of magnitude cost differences in mind here. IMO it’s barely going to be worth the $$ to pipe the excess (low-grade = too low-temp and diffuse for steam or industrial use) heat to local buildings, etc. Remember, ANY use you make of the “waste heat” is going to take equipment. It better cost less than 5¢/W, and produce the heat equivalent of 1 kwh for less than 0.3¢, or it would be easier, more efficient, and cheaper to simply install another FoFu2+ and use its electricity for the application. I suspect that thermoelectric is not even much within 2 orders of magnitude of either of those numbers.

So straight venting to the atmosphere is likely to be the “solution”. Don’t let it bother you; the basic ultra-efficiency of the energy production cycle of FF is so high that net waste heat (which, afterall, is a finally going to be almost all of the output, after entropy has its way) is less than any alternative. (Passive “collector” systems like solar may appear to be an exception, but after you get through dealing with availability and density limitations, capital and real-estate costs, etc., it is a very localized and limited alternative. Note the recent CA environmentalists’ lawsuits blocking the state from putting a solar farm IN THE DESERT, because it displaces too much “sensitive” ecology. As Bastiat says, always look for the ‘unseen’ secondary costs. )