December 5, 2008—The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has released Combined Heat and Power: Effective Energy Solutions for a Sustainable Future, a new report highlighting Combined Heat and Power (CHP) as a realistic solution to enhance national energy efficiency and reliability, ensure environmental quality, promote economic growth, and foster a robust energy infrastructure.
The report provides an in-depth discussion of current opportunities and challenges to more widespread national CHP deployment, and sets the stage for future policy dialogue aimed at promoting this clean energy solution. It outlines the projected reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, fuel savings, and creation of “green-collar” jobs if 20% of generating capacity came from CHP in the US by 2030.
CHP technology exists in a wide variety of energy-intensive facility types and sizes nationwide, including: large and small industrial facilities, commercial buildings, multi-family and single-family housing, institutional facilities, and campuses.
CHP, also known as cogeneration, is the concurrent production and use of electricity or mechanical power and useful thermal energy from a single fuel source. CHP includes a suite of technologies that can use a variety of fuels to generate electricity or power at the point of use, allowing normally lost heat to be recovered to provide needed heating or cooling.
To view the report or to learn more about the DOE’s CHP activities, visit the Industrial Distributed Energy Web site.
