January 15, 2007—The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has released a new report, “Survey of Emissions Models for Distributed Combined Heat and Power Systems,” which reviews existing models’ attempts to quantify or describe the emissions effects of combined heat and power (CHP) systems.
The models surveyed vary in design, scope, and detail, but they all commonly seek to capture the functions of an energy economy and use knowledge of economic interactions to simulate the effects of economic and policy changes, explains ACEEE.
Despite the multitude of benefits of a CHP installation, relatively few tools exist for estimating the displaced emissions, or for predicting how CHP affects constrained transmission systems or distributed emissions implications, says ACEEE. This lack has reportedly hampered the development of effective policies.
Several well-established energy and emissions models are profiled in the report, including the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) CHP Emissions Calculator. Researchers hope that either the Emissions Calculator methodology can be integrated into a more sophisticated model, or a more comprehensive tool can be developed to allow the full appreciation of the environmental benefits of a CHP system. A possible framework for this is discussed in the report.
The report is available free online, or a hard copy can be purchased from ACEEE Publications.
