Eli5, even if they are not the most efficient or powerful things, why are stirling engines not sprinkled everywhere where there is a decent amount of thermal differential? or energy to recapture, Like in power plant cooling systems or other places where there’s lots of “waste heat” as a byproduct.

Question

Eli5, even if they are not the most efficient or powerful things, why are stirling engines not sprinkled everywhere where there is a decent amount of thermal differential? or energy to recapture, Like in power plant cooling systems or other places where there’s lots of “waste heat” as a byproduct.

In: Engineering

Answer 1

If there is a significant amount of waste heat, there are other more efficient methods of using it.

Power plants cooling systems sometimes heat water for domestic use or for preheating incoming water used for steam (cogeneration).

Sometimes nothing is installed to save money, or for some other reason (like the additional weight not being worth it in a motor vehicle).