These days, businesses must be efficient to stay ahead of their competition. One way for businesses to be more efficient financially and environmentally is to use cogeneration solutions for their power and heating needs.
What is Cogeneration?
Cogeneration is simply the combination of heat and power provided by the same system. For cogeneration to work, a fuel like natural gas or propane is used to run an engine that turns a generator which produces electricity. The generator will naturally produce heat, which is captured and used to heat water for use in the building or facility and also to provide space heat.
Advantages of Cogeneration
When using external power providers and an internal boiler for heat, there is a lot of inefficiency involved. In fact, getting power from the power company usually results in over 30 percent inefficiency, and using an external fuel source to heat a boiler can be as inefficient as 65 percent, depending on the season. By contrast, cogeneration solutions often run at up to 90 percent efficiency. Using cogeneration also removes the need for you to deal with a power company, which cuts down on time and expense. There are also a number of tax advantages and government incentives for using a combined heat and power system. Finally, since combined plants tend to burn clean fuels like natural gas, there is a reduction in harmful emissions over many other methods of power and heat generation.
Who Can Benefit from Cogeneration?
As a general rule, cogeneration solutions make the most sense for larger institutions with over 100 rooms to heat and provide power for. It helps if they already have the infrastructure in place to supply heat from a central boiler as well. Businesses also are in a good position to reap the benefits of combined heat and power systems if they have ready access to natural gas or propane, preferably at an inexpensive cost. If a company is currently paying a high price for electricity, such as $0.10 per kilowatt hour or more, then they are an excellent candidate for cogeneration as they stand to save a lot of money.
ENER-G Rudox is a world-wide market leader in cogeneration and energy efficient technologies. It delivers the highest quality solutions to US market.
