Flutterby™! : Micro-CHP

A Christian Science Monitor article on "Micro-CHP" systems (via Rebecca Blood). Looks like an interesting technology, it's a combined generator and heater that runs off of natural gas. Marathon Engine Systems has one such product.

Interesting partially because although it ties you to one fuel source, it's a good way to re-use all that waste heat that, at a normal natural gas generating station, would just be evaporated at the cooling towers, but also because it puts a house on a peak energy budget. A house with a reasonably efficient lighting system can run on 2kW (if your dryer and water heater are gas), but only if your toaster and refrigerator and microwave are smart enough to not try to fight with each other for resources...

(May your deities help you if you have a decked out gaming PC, though...)

Managing appliance energy use is something we're going to need to get the large gains in efficiency that will become desirable as energy costs increase, and any way that the demand for that gets pushed is good.