Your choices so far:
1 Process heat/steam (50 - 150 °C); 2 Electricity
| What is your resource? | What do you want to deliver? | What is the service the customer wants? |
| Biomass (digestible sludge) | District cooling | Comfortable indoor climate |
| Biomass (fermentable sludge) | District heating | Electricity |
| Biomass (solid) | 2 Electricity | Process cooling (< 0 °C) |
| Geothermal | Fuel: Gaseous | 1 Process heat/steam (50 - 150 °C) |
| Sunshine | Fuel: Liquid | Process heat (150 - 1000 °C) |
| Water | Fuel: Solid | Process heat (> 1000 °C) |
| Wind | Local cooling (ind. house) | Transport |
| Residual oils/fats etc | Local heating (ind. house) |
Low temperatures – such as the ones dealt with here – do not require a high-exergy energy carrier but should rather be supplied using less qualified energy carriers than electricity.
Thus, the use of electricity for low-temperature processes can be recommended only when there are other aspects such as the ease and precision of process control or similar that may override the thermodynamical arguments against it.
Electricity shall in the first instance be used for
- Mechanical work such as needed for lawn-mowing, pumping, fanning, compressing as well as evacuating or to run escalators, lifts and alike. In the longer run, this will also include transportation.
- Illumination.
- Operation of home electronics, computers, for communication devices and such.
- To obtain cryogenic/freezing as well as extremely high temperatures.
- For electrochemical operations such as electrolytic plating and alike.
- For operations and processes where the added value from the cleanliness, the simplicity and the precision of process control can be judged to override the thermodynamic arguments against it.
Electricity production in sufficiently large scale to be contracted for industrial processes would first be based on CHP- or tri-generation plants fired with biogas (contracted) or solid biomass, alternatively would it originate from hydropower or from wind power.