Just another day

Today I started a fairly lengthy process of pulling together research on distributed energy called cogeneration or co-gen. This is interesting since the burning fuel in power plants usually ends up producing more heat than electricity. Coal-fired plants are typically only 30% efficient in converting the energy of the fuel into electricity, with the rest of the energy lost as waste heat. Furthermore, energy is lost in transporting electricity, as often as high as 10%. Cogeneration or co-gen, consists of smaller, gas-fired power plants that can be located nearby to customers, usually in the facility, where the heat as well as the electricity can be usefully employed.

Cogeneration is a means of supplying a site’s power and thermal energy needs from the combustion of a single fuel and as such is significantly more fuel efficient than conventional technologies. This is more efficient for large industrial areas, hospitals and schools. Read more about it here.

So far, I feel like my head will explode when we are in meetings. It's only going to get more interesting as I will be working on a project involving carbon capture and sequestration in a few weeks and the guy I will be working with is in London right now receiving his M.B.A. from the London School of Economics. Yeah. A background in business definitely would have served me well in this job.

As it is with all the Clinton School student's projects, in addition to the day to day research and work, which is challenging enough, I have to do so in a foreign local, state and national political structure with very unique issues.

For those who are interested, Australians refer to their political structure as the "Washminster" hybrid, including aspects of the British Parliamentary and U.S. Federal models.