TABLE OF CONTENTS A common method of generating electrical power involves a process known as the Rankine cycle. A working fluid (often water) is placed in a system at high pressure and is passed through a boiler. The fluid is heated, but, because of the high pressure, it does not boil but instead becomes 'superheated'. The superheated liquid is then expanded through a turbine, which it turns to produce electrical power. The resulting gas is then condensed into a liquid and returned to the circuit.
The process produces electricity, but most of the heat generated to drive the process is wasted for power stations dispersing this waste, heat is a real problem and requires cooling towers or large heat sinks such as rivers or the sea.
But heat is a basic requirement for both industrial and domestic uses in fact, some 40 per cent of the UK's energy requirement is for heat. Using the heat from the power station for example, by piping hot water to local homes and businesses in a district heating scheme makes very little difference to the operation of the power station but can increase the proportion of the fuel that is transformed into usable energy from 30 40 per cent to upwards of 80 per cent.
The idea of regarding both the potential heat and power outputs of a power station as useful products is neither new nor unusual, but the potential has often been disregarded in the...
