Microturbines the Way to Power the Future - 7/30/08

One way we can solve our energy problem is using energy more efficiently.  That does not mean everyone rations their use or spend hours at night sitting in the dark.  An incredible amount of energy is being wasted. 

The world revolves around the need for energy.  Whether it’s your car, home or favorite vacation resort they all need energy. 

Imagine a bus powered by an electric motor, basically an electric hybrid vehicle which by the way is how our trains have been powered for years.  The hybrid bus uses an engine to power a generator.  The electricity from the generator powers a motor that turns the wheels. 

Not only are you saving energy and money, the bus puts out ultra low emissions.  Think if every bus in China was a hybrid this could solve many of their critical emissions problems. 
 
Instead of gas or diesel powering the engine of this hybrid bus, let’s use a device called a microturbine.  This micorturbine is a small engine that can burn compressed natural gas.  The burnt gas spins a turbine and generates electricity that turns the wheels.  Biodiesel could even be used in place of natural gas.

The Reagan Library gets all of its electricity from microturbines.  There are 16 microturbines at the Reagan Library which delivers 95 percent of the power the building uses.  This is not a small building it houses an entire Boeing 707. 
 
The microturbines at the Reagan Library burn natural gas.  They even recycle the heat to run the library’s cooling system. The library has a much lower electric cost than if it bought power from the Southern California grid.  The process is highly efficient.

Offshore platforms in the past used diesel generators to run their on board systems.  This required the operators to send diesel fuel by barge to the platforms.  Think of the cost and logistical problems they had.  Now platforms in the Gulf of Alaska and the North Sea use microturbines for all their energy needs without using diesel.  The microturbines burn natural gas that comes from the wells drilled into the hydrocarbon formations.  No more expensive diesel.  The energy cost for offshore platforms is now negligible. 

Microturbines can run almost continuously.  They only require maintenance about once or twice a year.  They are clean and can provide energy for large buildings, industrial applications and mass transportation.  Microturbines have a wide array of applications.

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