An innovative residential generator that can produce both heat and electricity could spark a revolution in energy efficiency, said Eric Guyer, the CEO of Climate Energy, during a recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Energy Club talk. Guyer described Climate Energy's micro-combined heat and power unit (micro-CHP) as "hopefully, the next big thing in energy."
The idea for combined heat and power (CHP) is nothing new, Guyer said. "Thomas Edison's first power plant was combined," he explained. Still, the idea of generating both heat and energy in a way that is not only affordable but also quiet enough for use in a private home is a more recent development.