In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Neil Jones wrote:

"David W.E. Roberts" wrote in message
...

"Neil Jones" wrote in message
...

snip

What you want is a steam turbine.
Heat the water with a gas jet.



Sort of miniature power station in my garden shed? What's involved
and is this really a practical consideration?

The thought was prompted by memories of a country show where there
were loads of old small stationary steam engines.

They did all sorts of things including generating electricity.

AFAICS it wouldn't be difficult to convert a coal fired steam engine
to run on gas.

Steam turbine was one step further (too far?).

A steam engine with a rotating flywheel could drive a generator no
problem - a lot of older rural houses had diesel gennies which AFAIR
were in two parts - engine and generator.

Not as whizzo efficient as a modern petrol generator, I presume, but
a quaint and interesting power source none the less :-)


Certainly would be a talking-point!


Actually, I'd like to be able to generate *all* my electricity from gas -
not just in an emergency. Bearing in mind that the marginal cost per kWHr of
(on peak) electricity is 3.6 times that of gas, I would save on fuel costs
as long as the overall conversion efficiency was more than about 27.5%
--
Cheers,
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