Combined Heat and Power: Does it Make Sense for Your Building/Site?
Over two-thirds of the fuel used to generate power in the US is lost as heat. Combined heat and power (CHP) is an integrated energy system that recovers much of that heat for heating, cooling, and dehumidification.
There are a number of important questions to ask to determine if CHP is right for your site:
Do you pay more than $.06/kWh on average for electricity (including generation, transmission, and distribution)?
Are you concerned about the impact of current or future energy costs on your operations?
Are you concerned about power reliability?
Does your facility operate for more than 3,000 hours per year?
Do you have thermal loads throughout the year? (including steam, hot water, chilled water, hot air, etc.)
Does your facility have an existing central plant with steam or hydronic distribution?
Do you expect to replace, upgrade, or retrofit central plant equipment within the next 3-5 years?
Do you anticipate a facility expansion or new construction project within the next 3-5 years?
Have you already implemented energy efficiency measures and still have high energy costs?
Are you interested in reducing your facility's impact on the environment?
Do you have access to on-site or nearby biomass resources? (i.e., landfill gas, farm manure, food processing waste, etc.)
If you answered yes to several of these questions, your facility might be a good candidate for CHP. Often the following end-use facility types are good candidates for CHP systems.
Military installations
Hospitals
Labs and Data Centers
Prisons
Schedule an appointment with a CEG engineer if you want to talk about how CHP might improve your facility operations.