Researchers in Ontario [43.9°N, 78.9°W] and Istanbul [41.0°N, 29.0°E] have designed a renewable energy system that can simultaneously;
- power a home
- heat a greenhouse
- make drinking water
- fuels a car
Their model blends wind, geothermal, and tidal energy into one hybrid power plant — delivering five essential outputs: electricity, heat, hot water, fresh water, and hydrogen.
The system was modelled for the coastal town of Santa Rosa, California, but the concept holds striking potential for Northern Europe and Canada, where geothermal heat, wind power, and tidal motion are all locally available. Think of Norway’s fjords, Scotland’s coastline, or Atlantic Canada’s Bay of Fundy — places where tides rise like clockwork, winds whip across highlands, and hot water hides under volcanic rock.
Together, these resources can now be tapped in tandem — not just for clean energy, but for smarter living.
What Makes This System Special?
We’ve seen hybrid energy systems before. But this one is different because it doesn’t just generate electricity. It divides the power into five useful streams — all designed to meet a community’s needs:
- Electricity for homes and grids
- Heat and hot water for buildings and greenhouses
- Fresh water, desalinated from seawater
- Hydrogen fuel made with green electricity
- Energy storage to keep everything balanced
And it does all this with zero emissions during operation — no fossil fuels, no pollution, just clever thermodynamics and real-time management.
Why Combine These Three Energy Sources?
Each of the three power sources has its strengths — and its flaws. But when combined, they balance each other out:
- Wind energy is abundant and low-cost, but variable.
- Geothermal energy is steady and dependable, but geographically limited.
- Tidal energy is regular and predictable, but underused.
By linking them together, the system ensures round-the-clock energy availability — even when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind drops.
The geothermal source is tapped using an organic Rankine cycle, converting low-temperature heat into electricity and then into heat for greenhouses and water tanks. Leftover heat runs a desalination unit, turning seawater into fresh water for homes or hydrogen production.
Meanwhile, the wind farm powers the town directly and helps charge battery banks when demand is low. During tidal peaks, underwater turbines capture energy from moving sea currents — adding stability and feeding extra electricity to the alkaline electrolyzer that produces hydrogen.
What Do the Numbers Say?
Here’s what the model showed in action:
- Electricity generated: 1.9 MW net output
- Hydrogen produced: 0.005 kg/s — enough to fuel local vehicles or backup systems
- Fresh water: 2.05 kg/s — desalinated and ready for use
- Greenhouse heating: 7.8 MW of waste heat recovered
- Overall energy efficiency: 18.13%
- Overall exergy efficiency: 25.6%
While those efficiency numbers might sound modest, they reflect a reality of multi-output systems: some inputs are used for heat, water, and storage, not just kilowatts. Optimising all five outputs together, rather than just electricity, is what makes this system so practical.
Application Above 49° North
The system may be even more effective north of California. In Norway, for example, hydropower reservoirs could pair with offshore wind and fjord-based tidal flows. Scotland and Nova Scotia already test tidal energy devices. And geothermal heat is being explored from Iceland to Alberta.
The key is integration. This system doesn’t need massive new technologies — just smarter use of what’s already there:
- Waste heat that doesn’t get dumped
- Tidal motion that isn’t ignored
- Freshwater created from seawater or brackish sources
- Hydrogen produced when power is cheap and stored when not
Looking to the Future
The system has only been simulated so far — it’s not yet been built. But its components all exist. It uses well-established turbines, heat exchangers, and electrolyzers, just connected more deliberately.
The biggest opportunities for improvement lie in reducing thermal losses, particularly in the heat exchanger units, where energy tends to dissipate. The researchers found this to be the main site of exergy loss — meaning that’s where future refinements should focus.
But the vision is clear: a closed-loop community-scale system that can run indefinitely on clean, local power — while delivering not just electricity, but water, warmth, and fuel.
A Blueprint for Sustainable Communities
This research offers more than clever engineering. It offers a template for real-world energy resilience.
For coastal, rural, or remote areas — from Arctic towns to island communities — this kind of hybrid microgrid could ensure:
- Local autonomy
- Clean water and heating
- Clean transport
- And year-round food production through warm greenhouses
At a time when climate change, energy security, and cost of living are front of mind across Europe and Canada, such systems could be the foundation of a smarter, calmer, cleaner future.
Source
An Effective Use of Three Renewable Sources for Generation of Quintuple Useful Outputs with Hydrogen for Sustainable Communities and Greenhouses, Energy (Elsevier), 2025-05-22
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