June 16, 2008—The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized three Energy Star Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Award winners for using CHP to reduce their energy use by more than 18 percent. CHP, also referred to as cogeneration, is an efficient, clean, and reliable approach to generating power and thermal energy from a single fuel source, explains EPA. By installing a CHP system, a facility can increase operational efficiency and decrease energy costs, while reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
Awardees include:
- Calpine Columbia Energy Center (Gaston, SC) for its combustion turbine-based CHP system that produces up to 500 MW of electricity and one million pounds of steam per hour. The local utility grid receives all of the generated electricity while an adjacent manufacturing plant productively utilizes the steam. This highly efficient CHP system requires 30% less fuel than typical alternatives.
- University of New Mexico CHP Project (Albuquerque, NM) for its natural gas-fired CHP system at the Ford Utilities Center. Part of a major energy infrastructure upgrade project, the CHP system supplies the campus with roughly one-third of its total electricity demand and produces steam to help meet the space heating, space cooling, and domestic hot water production needs of more than 25,000 students, staff, and faculty. With an operating efficiency of almost 65%, the CHP system requires 20% less fuel than typical alternatives.
- Verizon Garden City Fuel Cell Project (Garden City, NY) for its fuel cell CHP system. Located at a Verizon call routing center, the CHP system is reportedly the largest US commercial fuel cell installation of its kind. Hot water that would otherwise be wasted is recovered and used for the space cooling and heating of an office building that serves more than 35,000 telecommunication customers. With an operating efficiency of almost 60%, the CHP system requires 25% less fuel than typical alternatives.
Since 1999, EPA has given the Energy Star CHP Award to recognize organizations and institutions that install exceptionally efficient CHP systems. EPA’s CHP Partnership seeks to reduce the environmental impact of power generation. EPA works closely with energy users, the CHP industry, state and local governments, and other stakeholders to support the development of new projects that have significant energy, environmental, and economic benefits, with the eventual goal of doubling the capacity of CHP in the US to 92 gigawatts (GW) by 2010.
