Development: Cogen: Power to the people
The Madhouser cogeneration system saves people huge amounts of money and labor. By harvesting the great amounts of heat energy an internal combustion engine normally wastes, we're able to have on hand at all times a 30 gallon tank of hot water which can be used for washing clothes or dishes or bathing. This saves the building of many fires and the cutting and burning of much wood.
One person was heating his water with propane, bought in one pound cylinders, which normally cost three dollars. We've arranged about three month's worth of empty cylinders from this one man in front of our hot water tank. We simply reroute engine coolant lines that would go to the car heater, to a heat exchanger in the insulated water tank. Once heated, insulation in the tank walls can keep the water hot for two days.
