Page 19 - Sustainable On-Site CHP Systems Design, Construction, and Operations

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industrial heating, cooling and power needs in the twenty-first century. As energy use
and energy costs continue to rise, one must look to CHP opportunities for increasing
building, industrial, and manufacturing energy-use efficiencies in minimizing use of
purchased prime energy by displacing it with useful energy and/or power obtained by
harnessing available waste heat sources more effectively.
Finally, this book also offers numerous useful suggestions for those charged with
providing sustainable operation of the CHP system. Being able to conduct system
diagnostics and expert control of these CHP systems in a cost-effective manner not only
delivers power, cooling and heat in a reliable manner, but also does it with a minimal
environmental footprint.
CHP systems often also form the backbone of a distributed energy (DE) resource,
which can be tapped into the power grid either individually or in aggregated multi-
kilowatt blocks. As my PNNL colleague (Don Hammerstrom) noted in a recent article
by David Engle titled “The Grid Wise Future,” DE resources can have an expanded role
in the future scenario of a completely revamped electrical grid system, often called the
“smart grid,” especially for backup generators including standby emergency power
systems. So, looking into the future, the CHP systems probably offer even a wider array
of applications than have been envisioned thus far.

DR. SRIRAM SOMASUNDARAM, FASME, FASHRAE
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington