Description of capability
Hybrid industrial boilers that can run on electricity when it’s cheap and clean, and on gas or hydrogen otherwise. See quote by Jesse Jenkins:
Another option is to just install resistance heaters alongside gas boilers. So don’t replace the gas boiler fully or at all, but run it in a hybrid mode, where when energy prices are cheap electricity prices are cheap, you switch off of gas to electricity, and when electricity prices are higher than the gas cost, you go back to gas. And that makes it look like a very flexible demand sink. That was a technology we put in the model for the Net Zero America study and we saw like terawatts of that load in the final Net Zero system.
Are there technological breakthroughs that could make these systems much better or cheaper?
Key people
None
Technology Readiness Level (1-9)
8
Needs that this could potentially address
Tech specs
Estimated time & cost to commercialize
Outstanding risks
References
- Others are working on these already, e.g. HKB Boiler Solutions