| Increased demand for energy, rising energy costs, and heightened environmental concerns are driving forces that continually press for the improvement and development of new technologies to promote energy savings and emissions reduction. Combined heating and power (CHP), combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP), and organic Rankine cycles (ORC) are a few of the technologies that promise to reduce primary energy consumption (PEC), cost, and emissions. CHP systems generate electricity at or near the place of consumption using a prime mover, e.g. a combustion engine or a turbine, and utilize the accompanying exhaust heat that would otherwise be wasted to satisfy the building's thermal demand. In the case of CCHP systems, exhaust heat also goes to satisfy a cooling load. An organic Rankine cycle (ORC) combined with a CHP or CCHP system can generate electricity from any surplus low-grade heat, thereby reducing the total primary energy, cost, and emissions. |
