Cogeneration

by Michael Bokor

Definition
Sustainability
Capable of being continued with
minimal long-term effect on the
environment.
In the terms of the 1987 Brundtland
Report, sustainable development is
development that: "Meeting the
needs of the present generation
without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their
needs."

Boiler plant information

The purpose of the Main Boiler
House is to provide steam 24
hours a day to 32 buildings on
campus and the Freshman
Dorm area.
The boiler plant uses natural
gas and provides all the steam
used on campus.
The steam is used for heating,
air conditioning, and hot water.

Main Boiler House

Air Compressor

Problem on campus
The boiler plant is very
inefficient do to excess
amounts of heat energy loss.
The heating bill for the winter
of 05-06 was more then 4
million dollars over budget.
The price of the natural gas
that R.P.I purchased has
doubled in the last 5 years.

Boiler

Solution
Cogeneration - A process in
which an industrial facility
uses its waste energy to
produce heat or electricity.
Cogeneration is an energyefficient, environmentallyfriendly method of producing
electricity (power), steam
and/or hot water at the same
time, in one process, with one
fuel.

Cogeneration

(combined heat and power or CHP)

is the use of a power station to
simultaneously generate both heat
and electricity.
Conventional power plants emit the
heat created as a byproduct of
electricity generation into the
environment through cooling
towers, as flue gas, or by other
means.
CHP captures the excess heat for
domestic or industrial heating
purposes.

History
Bailey's
Patent
Steam Jack
1793
America's
first steam
turbine This
spit-turning
device, or
"jack," may
well be the
first steam
turbine built
and used in
America.
Used to turn
a fireplace
spit, it may
also
represent
the earliest
nonindustrial
application
of steam
power.

Hot-air cogeneration, which is found

in modern combustion turbines, can
be traced back to medieval smoke
jacks.
Steam cogeneration was first applied
to the steam jack, which appeared in
the early seventeenth century.
By the late eighteenth century, waste
steam from manufacturing processes
was used to power steam engines,
and the hot condenser water was
used again for other process
purposes.

a smoke jack, a
device that took
advantage of
the rising heat
in the flu to turn
a vane, which
in turn rotated
the spit via a
simple train of
gears and a
chain.
Leonardo da
Vinci illustrated
a smoke jack in
his sketchbook
in the late
1400's.

Cogeneration solutions simply reduce

waste, with only 10%-15% losses, compare
that with the 55% or more using traditional
generation methods and it is clear that
cogeneration uses fuel more efficiently.

How it will help

Estimates are that the boiler
plant is 50% efficient at
capturing heat for use around
the campus.
Instituting a cogeneration
plant along side the boiler
plant could rise that
efficiency rate to around 7090%, thereby saving a lot of
wasted energy.

Contributing to prevention of
global warming
A cogeneration system utilizes
exhaust heat which is dumped in
generating electricity, and so
makes the most of the limited
resources.

Because it reduces the amount of

exhausting greenhouse gas such
as CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) and
NOx(Nitrogen Oxides), it can
contribute a lot to prevention of
global warming.

Proven technology
Over 150 colleges & universities
around the nation have cogeneration
plants.
M.I.T cogeneration plant has reduced
emissions by 45% or 13,000 car
roundtrips into Cambridge per day!
University of Oregon cogeneration
plant produces 30% of the universitys
electricity from the byproduct of
steam production.
University of Maryland has installed a
26-MW Cogen system that it says
saves the institution $6 million per
year in energy costs.

References

http://www.answers.com/cogeneration&r=67
4/16/06

http://www.standardaeroenergy.com/main/coge
neration.htm 4/16/06

http://www.rpi.edu/~bortonh/PVTracker/OHtalk.
html 4/16/06

http://www.poly.rpi.edu/article_view.php3?vie
w=441&part=1
4/16/06

http://cogen.mit.edu/ 4/18/06

http://www.osu.edu/osu/newsrel/Archive/00-0707_Trustees:_Construction_Projects.html
4/18/06

http://www.schmittenertec.com/cogeneration/what.htm 4/22/06