Study on woody biomass Stirling cycle for cold region houses

A Stirling engine (SEG) using woody biomass is a power generation system that can reduce greenhouse gas discharge. However, improvement of generation efficiency and development of a product are required strongly. In this paper, the energy flow is investigated in experimenting in Test SEG. These results are installed into the energy demand pattern of a cold region houses with much heat demand, and the amount of fuel consumption, power generation efficiency, and a greenhouse gas amount of emission are investigated. Operations of the proposed system are SEG base‐load operation and SEG power‐load‐following operation. Moreover, when there is less exhaust heat of the SEG than a heat demand amount, electric heat pump is operated. From analysis results, the energy cost, the greenhouse gas emission characteristic, the auxiliary heat source, and the operation plan of a heat storage tank due to the conventional method and the proposed system are described. It is thought that greenhouse gas and the energy cost of the SEG cogeneration made to follow power load are advantageous compared with the SEG base‐load operation. However, it turned out that improvement in the speed of the load response characteristic of the SEG is required as a future subject. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.