Development: Cogen: Power to the people
The Madhouser Gencar shows how to get reliable off-grid electricity and hot water - for $5 of fuel a week.
Our gencar has never been more than a rough, experimental 'pilot project' to demonstrate the cogeneration concept, to find what problems the concept has, and to devise solutions if we could. With a more suitable engine we could have gotten twice the electricity and twice the heat recovery while burning half the fuel we burn now.
The cogen plant has provided electricity and hot water all day long, every day, for four years. What problems have arisen have been solvable with basic electrical knowledge and simple hand tools and it has become an increasingly reliable and economical unit to operate.
Getting two or more uses from your fuel energy is the way to go with the limited supplies of solar biomass fuels. Trans-estrified fats, ethyl alcohol, biogas, charcoal gas, can all provide for essential needs if used wisely.