HIGHER EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVE USE OF PRIMARY FUEL USINGCOMBINED HEAT AND POWER

Abstract

The use of electricity and heat are essential in our daily life activities. They areused domestically for heating, lighting, washing, cooling, and cooking. Commercially, it is used in transportation, heating, cooling, manufacturing and processing. In view of this, there is the need to use energy (electricity and heat) efficiently to reduce the waste from energy such as heat and CO2 released into the atmosphere. The efficient use of energy makes the environment safe and maintains a high quality of lives of people. The majority of electricity generated in the world today is from thermal, which has a low efficiency ranging between 30-37% and combines cycle gas turbine (CCGT) having approximately 47%. A high percentage of the primary fuel used to generate power is converted to waste as heat into the environment. Therefore, the need arises to recover the heat and used for another purpose to enhance efficiency. To attain higher efficiency and effective use of primary fuel, Combined Heat and Power (CHP) is employed in recovering of waste heat to be reused, therefore, increasing productivity. This paper highlights the working principles, application, factors influencing the selection of CHP and economic importance of installing CHP. It further uses a Salford hospital as a case study to explain the economic benefits of installing CHP.

Keywords

• energy
• waste
• electricity
• heat
• fuel
• power