C OOLING , H EATING , AND P OWER (CHP) FOR C OMMERCIAL BUILDINGS B ENEFITS ANALYSIS

Abstract

We performed a detailed analysis of the energy consumption and
end-user economics combined heat and power (CHP) systems in large-
commercial buildings that included:
• Five generation technologies (standard and advanced
microturbines, standard and advanced internal combustion (IC)
engines, and high-temperature PEM fuel cells);
• Three building types (hospital, large office, and large hotel);
• Five US cities (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and Phoe-
nix); and
• Utilizing recovered heat for both heating and absorption cooling.
Our detailed, hour-by-hour analysis includes a novel operating al-
gorithm that makes the generate-versus-buy decision based on minimiz-
ing overall operating costs, including accounting for the impacts of elec-
tric demand charges.
Our analysis did not consider benefits beyond end-user energy-cost
savings, such as improved power quality/reliability, transmission and
distribution system (T&D) support, and possibly emissions credits. This
is an important limitation as these other benefits can be significant.