It heats. It powers. Is it the future of home energy?

Residential ‘micro-combined-heat-and-power’ units are efficient furnaces that create electricity.

Down in Bernard Malin’s basement is a softly thrumming metal box that turns natural gas into hot water and generates $600 to $800 worth of electricity a year – a bonus byproduct of heating his home.

"It’s like printing money," says Mr. Malin, the first person in Massachusetts – perhaps in the nation – to own a residential "micro combined-heat-and-power" system, also known as micro-CHP.

By Mark Clayton | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Full Story: http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1114/p01s02-usec.html?s=hns