Forbes: Kamen's contribution has been in engineering his Stirling with the most high-performance materials. He started off using skilled welders to put together key parts of the engine made out of exotic alloys. More recently he's figured out how make those pieces with even more precision using 3-D printing. Crane says a key element in Kamen design was the perfection of a little plastic membrane that looks like a condom. The Beacon, which weighs about 1,500 pounds and is the size of a washing machine, also includes a battery system, which can be integrated with other distributed generation systems like solar panels.
So what's Kamen's vision for the future of these things? Well the one in Crane's basement is far too big for the average American home, generating 10 continuous kilowatts, while most of us only draw about 2 kw. "I love bulldozers, but I wouldn't put one in my garage," quips Kamen.
Kamen believes that aside from mansion owners, the Beacon 10 is just right for businesses like laundries or restaurants that use a lot of hot water. With commercialization partner NRG Energy, he's so far deployed roughly 20 of the machines.
Kamen expects to put them into production within 18 months. "Within two years I would expect high-end builders to be installing them."
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