A Cogeneration Case Study Using the Interactive Energy Balance Program

Abstract

Cogeneration is a highly effective means of increasing energy ef-
ficiency and reducing energy costs by utilizing the heat that would
normally be wasted and use some or all of it for the thermal require-
ments of a facility. This effective utilization of heat generated during
electricity production allows for an increase of fuel efficiency from
35% to almost 85%. Cogeneration not only reduces energy costs and
increases energy efficiency, but is also beneficial to the environment by
reducing the amount of pollutants that are emitted into the atmo-
sphere.
In a previous work we presented and described the new Interac-
tive Energy Balance (IEB) software. The package offers an easy way to
account for energy bills, working equipment and their energy operat-
ing characteristics. Among the equipment considered are: lighting, air
conditioning, refrigeration compressors, air compressors, motors, and
others. The electric energy consumed by all pieces of equipment is
balanced against the energy bills (last 12 months). The corresponding
energy costs, graphs, pie-charts, and free format reports are automati-
cally generated showing paths and trends on energy consumption. A
“Recommendations” section allows for a quick, but beyond a back of
the envelop type of calculation, initial analysis of potential energy im-
provement projects associated with current equipment, and/or for the
installation of new ones.
As a result of the increasing interest, we have included in IEB’s
“recommendations” section a “cogeneration” option. Among its many
features is a typical cogeneration environment window with fuel load, power generated, thermal load output, and efficiency, allowing for a
variety of uses for the exhaust heat. Furthermore, an information veri-
fication chart is displayed and a final “cogeneration savings” printable
summary chart is shown. This chart includes (among others) the
worth of thermal load, worth of cogeneration, fuel cost, operating
cost, total savings, simple payback, and return on investment. In this
work we briefly describe IEB and present a case study on a cogenera-
tion recommendation. This provides insight on the versatility, faster
data entry, balancing process, graphical display, recommendations and
many other features of the software. In addition, we further demon-
strate the value of the energy balance approach, and the many options
for cogeneration and other energy savings projects