Sustainable Planet Today

At first glance, the term “recycle energy” seems ambiguous. How is it even possible? We use the energy in fuel, for example, to power a car and move it from one place to another. The energy has been spent or, more correctly, turned into another state with low potential.

Let’s look at the car example a little closer. As the engine is being run on gasoline, it is heating up; another end product of fuel consumption. Let’s also assume it’s a cold winter day and you are driving the car with the heat on. Where does that warm air come from? Of course, it comes from the engine. The antifreeze is circulated through the engine/radiator system where it helps to keep the engine from getting too hot. Within this circulation system is what is referred to as a heater core. It is a small radiator-like apparatus that is warmed from the heat of the engine. A fan blows air across this and through your vent and defrost system. The air is heated as it passes through and around the heater core producing the warm air for your car’s interior.

So, is this an example of recycling energy? Yes, it is! If not used in the heating system, this excess warmth is simply diffused into the atmosphere. While it’s hard to measure the efficiency of this system, capturing and reusing this energy in the form of heat for comfort is an excellent example of how we recycle energy.

In the electrical production industry energy recycling has been around for over 100 years. Thomas Edison’s Pearl Street Station, the world’s first commercial power plant, produced electricity and used normally wasted heat to warm nearby buildings.

Even after all these years, the manufacturing industry is still not as efficient in the heat capture process as it could be. Tom Casten, chairman of Recycled Energy Development had the following to say last year about the many industrial processes that produce high temperature exhaust.

“You can use that high temperature energy to boil water, make steam, and drive an electric generator,” he explained.

Some recent DOE and EPA studies indicate that manufacturing industries in the the United States waste enough heat to generate approximately 0.2 million megawatts of power. That’s about 20 percent of the total consumption of the nation.

There are many ways energy can be recycled. The more we can extract from every unit of energy burned, the more sustainable we can become.

Do you have any ideas for energy recycling around the home?  Why not share your thoughts by leaving a comment or question below?  Let’s all work together to help make our lives and planet more sustainable.