With each passing month, it seems American homes and businesses are getting smarter, offering improved efficiency, cost savings, security and peace of mind. How can natural gas play a role? Advanced heat pump technology, a hybrid system combining heating, cooling and backup electricity, and a new kind of meter—these are just a few examples of the technologies that are on the way to deliver smarter utility service while also strengthening the relationship between gas providers and consumers.
Michael Garrabrant, founder and CEO of Stone Mountain Technologies Inc., based in Tennessee, says his company’s forthcoming product—a thermal-driven heat pump powered by natural gas—will make homes and businesses more comfortable at a lower cost and with less environmental impact.
Stone Mountain’s approach takes technology typically used only for cooling—a process known as ammonia-water absorption—and adapts it for heating.
A TDHP uses heat energy from natural gas to drive a thermodynamic heat-pump cycle based on the single-effect ammonia-water absorption process, producing heating or cooling (or both at the same time). The TDHP is located outside the home or business and is connected to the heating load indoors via a simple water loop. In a typical residential forced-air heating system, the heated water feeds an indoor air-handler, distributing warm air throughout the building. For businesses such as full-service restaurants, the unit can supply hot water for most or all washing and related kitchen needs, or it can be configured to deliver the required base heating load.
Like electrical heat pumps, the TDHP draws a portion of its delivered heat from outside air. Unlike electrical pumps, though, Stone Mountain’s natural gas-fueled equipment works well in cold weather, does not add to electric grid congestion and reduces electrical heating costs, according to Garrabrant. He believes his company is the first developer of this kind of scalable and cost-effective technology.
“For consumers, the primary benefit is monthly utility-bill savings. We can cut their gas/heating costs by 30 to 50 percent for both space and water heating. That’s significant,” said Garrabrant. “But with our ability to control precisely the temperatures we deliver, we also can provide a more comfortable heating technology, compared with a single-speed gas furnace or electric heat pump.”
For gas utilities, there are several benefits. “Utilities promote energy efficiency and work to reduce carbon,” said Garrabrant. “If we meet our targets, this technology will help utilities reach their goals.”
In addition, Garrabrant points out that the technology offers a strong argument against the idea that fossil fuels can be replaced by electric heat pumps. “Our pumps provide an ‘arrow in the quiver’ for gas utilities. The TDHP will provide more efficiency at a much lower cost than an electricity-based solution.”
Stone Mountain is now in its second round of field testing the proprietary hardware at the core of the TDHP, a thermal compressor. Once this testing validates that the technology is reliable and affordable, the company will move forward with its manufacturing partners, who will complete the end-use product and provide distribution. The TDHP is expected to come to market by late 2019 or early 2020.
While that might seem a long way off, especially at a time when technology changes so rapidly, Garrabrant is confident that Stone Mountain will remain the leader in this area.
“I don’t see anyone beating us to market,” he said. “We’ve been at this for six years … We’re way ahead of anybody else that’s trying to develop any kind of equivalent technology.”
He added, “When you look 10, 15, 20 years from now—and look at how we’ll be heating our buildings and heating our water—we’re not going to be seeing furnaces, boilers, standard water heaters. I think those products will become obsolete over the next 10 to 20 years. So, what will replace them?” Garrabrant believes the answer lies in advanced technologies powered by natural gas.
When it comes to technology, consumers are increasingly at ease with the economies and efficiencies that come with bundling related services such as cable, internet and telephone. M-Trigen, based in Texas, is tapping into that trend with its new three-in-one PowerAire, a unit capable of supplying heating, cooling and electricity, all fueled by natural gas. While it can function as a backup generator in the event of an outage, its main function is to be the driving force behind a building’s daily heating and cooling needs.
Depending on an area’s specific electric costs, the company believes that consumers could save 30 to 70 percent on their electric bill by fueling their systems with natural gas instead.
The PowerAire doesn’t replace existing HVAC equipment; it becomes the primary compressor for those systems. “Let’s say the home thermostat clicks on, and there’s a call for cooling. Our unit fires up, the engine turns the compressor and our compressor takes control of pushing the refrigerant through the coils,” said Dan Giampetroni, M-Trigen’s vice president of sales and marketing. “For the hot-water tank, the PowerAire heats a water/glycol mixture that goes to the house, flows through a heat exchanger and heats the water in the tank.”
At the same time that it is heating water and cooling the air, the unit also produces electricity, resulting in a highly efficient system. “You basically get more value out than what you put in,” Giampetroni said. “We’re also giving the customer some peace of mind. In a power outage, our unit will continue to power the essentials.”
Although it is not intended as a whole-home backup generator, critical circuits can be run into a subpanel inside the PowerAire. “In a blackout, our unit will power the critical load that’s on the subpanel,” said Giampetroni. “Our inverter converts the energy into AC power for those circuits.”
In addition, the unit supports the ongoing partnership between renewables and natural gas. “You can also tie solar and wind into the equipment and have that as part of your energy source,” he said.
Given the combined cost of the unit and installation, which is typically in the $35,000-$45,000 range, Giampetroni says the PowerAire is more likely to fit the needs of commercial property owners than typical homeowners. But for such electricity-hungry operations as supermarkets, convenience stores, fitness centers, restaurants and hotels/motels, the savings realized by switching to the PowerAire can be dramatic, he said: “I talked to a convenience store in Florida, and I think their electric bill was maybe $80,000 a year. If we can partner with businesses and save somebody 50 percent on a bill like that … It just comes down to doing the math.”
Smart meters already collect detailed information about energy use, helping consumers benefit from energy efficiency programs and a more accurate energy bill. Honeywell Home and Building Technologies is offering a new meter product designed to take that convenience a step further.
According to Jon Smith, vice president and general manager of Honeywell Smart Energy Gas America, the AC250 Remote Meter Disconnect builds on the AC250 gas meter, which is the backbone of the company’s products in natural gas metering. The new meter adds a functionality that allows utility employees to initiate a gas shut-off remotely.
“Let’s say you’re a utility with a locked fence, some security devices or a dog in the yard around a customer’s property. Now let’s say your service team has to enter that property to turn off the gas due to a suspected leak,” said Smith. “Instead of having to wait until the customer is home or entering the immediate property without the customer present, the service team can use a special dongle attached to a laptop computer to remotely disconnect the meter from as far as 850 feet away.”
When it’s time to turn the gas back on, the technician first retrieves a PIN that’s on the meter itself. “They need to log the PIN on their laptop to restart the gas flow. This helps support proper gas turn-on processes—for example, ensuring that the technician checks and relights the pilot lights,” said Smith.
The result is enhanced safety for the consumer and the community at large. “The RMD lets utilities work as efficiently as possible, without needing to plan around customer schedules, while also operating more safely, allowing techs to provide shut-off service without getting close to potentially dangerous situations,” Smith said.
The RMD was scheduled to be on the market in the third quarter of this year. It is not available as a retrofit for existing AC250s, however. “We’re selling it as a stand-alone model, the AC250 RMD, to replace whatever meter might already be in the field,” Smith said.
According to Smith, while the new meter might not be a daily-need technology for every utility, for situations where utilities do need this functionality, the potential benefits are great: “Service calls are a major part of utility service, probably one of the top two operations they’re dealing with ... [and] the cost for a service call can be over $200. Being able to do the job without having to go back multiple times to meet with the homeowner can net real savings.”
The AC250 RMD also demonstrates Honeywell’s ongoing commitment to innovative technology. “Honeywell is committed to transforming the way people use energy today,” said Smith. “We want to be partners in innovation with utilities to really help them reach their goals. This is a good step in that direction for all of us.”
Forward-looking technologies are doing far more than just helping create smarter homes and businesses: They stabilize and build on the connection between gas utilities and their customers. In the past, consumers may have only thought about their gas utility when they had a problem. Now, as their ties to gas companies become more dynamic thanks to new technologies, resulting in enhanced peace of mind, consumers are increasingly viewing their gas companies as more than simply providers—they are highly valued partners.
