If someone wanted to buy the current E-Cat manifestation for anything other than debunking or reverse engineering, what would that look like? (Assuming that the technology is 100% real and has a COP of 6. I'm skeptical, but think this could be a fun intellectual exercise)
Current Cats produce steam for heat. There is no mechanism in place for superheating, so the steam would more than likely condense quickly, and be unsuitable for motive force. Let's examine the heat output, assuming an hour of 1 MW heat production: Using an E-Cat for 1 hour: 1 MW out for one hour/ COP of 6 = 166.67 kWh input Current average electrical rate is 10.58 cents/kWh 166.67 kWh x 0.1058 = $17.68 per hour Using natural gas: 1MW out for one hour = 3,414,000 BTU 1020 BTU per Cubic Foot of Natural Gas 3,414,000 / 1020 = 3347 CF 2011 prices varied $9.79 to $15.97 per thousand CF 3.347 x $9.79~$15.97 = $32.77 ~ $53.45 per hour (I hope that my calculations/conversions are on-the-money, these are literally back-of-napkin and cellphone calculations. I could've easily botched a conversion.) So, in the event that you have a need for 24 hour steam at roughly 1ATM pressure, the E-Cat could provide some price savings and stability. In the event of varying demands, though, a four-hour warmup (or only needing a percentage of the produced output), could quickly skew the savings into losses. A natural gas system could vary ouput easily, in a way that Rossi's reactor doesn't seem capable of. What would YOU use an E-Cat for?
