From: Killspam@invalid.kill   
      
   Rick wrote:   
      
   > although one would   
   > have thought that any technical problems which prevented it from   
   > happening (after all it was up and running and looks pretty cool even   
   > now) could have been ironed out in the period of half a century,   
      
   The recuperated microturbine is 30% in fuel-energy-to-electrical-conversion.   
   The waste heat is only in the exhaust and easily captured.  As this thread   
   is about Stirlings, this heat can also be used to run an additional Stirling   
   engine also turning a genny, improving efficiency greatly.  No catalyst,   
   water-cooling system or oil in the turbine and less emissions.   
   Microturbines are small anyhow, so the total microturbine/Stirling setup   
   will not be that big, and smaller than a 4 stroke ICE/transmission setup.   
   An added benefit is that turbine warm-up is instant, so an absorption a/c   
   can be used.   
      
   The Titanic had a similar heat recovery arrangement.  If I recall rightly,   
   the waste heat from steam turbines was used to assist the piston steam   
   engines - 100 years ago.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)