On Friday, 5 May 2017 20:14:39 UTC+1, Max Demian wrote:
On 05/05/2017 19:42, AnthonyL wrote:
I was watching the early development of electricity generation and
houses had their own coal fired generators before power distribution
became widespread.

Now is the time of year my fuel contracts come up for renewal; I can
get gas at less that 3p/kwH but my electricity supplier (soon not to
be) has upped their rate to nearly 14p/kwH which had me wondering
about the economics of using the cheaper gas to generate my
electricity.

ok, a bit t-i-c but it'd be fun having my own steam generator
(modified boiler?), turbine and generator. I recall a viable jet
engine (intended for VTOL some 45yrs ago) that could be picked up by
one person so a turbine needn't be too big.

The reason why gas is cheaper than electricity is that the gas engine is
inherently inefficient. I think commercial ones are up to 50% efficient:
I don't think you'll get anything like that. An ICE might be 30% and a
steam engine more like 10%.

If the OP hits 21%, which is doable, the electricity will cost the same 14p a unit in gas, but you'll get the extra heat free. It's done on larger scale, but a lot of mucking about for not a lot on a domestic scale.


NT