CHP: Our Focus

Combined heat and power (CHP) or cogeneration systems are DG systems that capture and put to good use all or some of the excess heat created by the generator. Among other things, this provides the customer with energy use flexibility and reduced total energy costs. CHP also serves to increase the overall fuel efficiency of DG systems to 80% or better. Recovered thermal energy can be used in a variety of ways to partially or wholly supplant traditional space conditioning and process heating methods.

In producing the exact same amount of useful electric and thermal energy, conventional systems (utility grid for electricity and boiler for heat) require 65% more fuel energy than does the typical CHP system. In comparison to CHP, conventional systems generate over five times the non-recoverable energy and emit nearly twenty times the NOx air pollutants into our environment.

For a broader, more in-depth treatment of CHP concepts, please visit the Midwest CHP Application Center’s website, and download a free copy of the 2005 Combined Heat and Power Resource Guide.

<< back