This document discusses waste heat and distributed energy generation. It notes that large centralized power plants currently supply most customers, but distributed generation near points of use could avoid about 50% of energy bills. New distributed generators range from 0.5-5MW in size. Waste heat is a necessary revenue stream as gas is expensive. Research into waste heat includes nanoscale materials, catalysts, thermal design, heat transport and conversion applications like cooling, desalination and industrial processes. An example trigeneration project at Hornsby City Library uses a microturbine and desiccant cooling to reduce CO2 emissions. Organic Rankine cycles and thermoelectric power generation are also discussed as future opportunities.