by Brianna Crandall — February 25, 2011—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is recognizing three facilities with the Energy Star Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Award for simultaneously producing electricity and useful thermal energy from a single energy source, such as natural gas, biomass, coal or waste heat. This technology leads to energy savings and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants, says EPA.
By designing more efficient facilities, the three award winners have prevented carbon emissions equivalent to the annual emissions from more than 29,000 passenger vehicles. The University of Massachusetts Amherst, Cornell University, and National Institutes of Health CHP systems achieve operating efficiencies ranging from 76 percent to 79 percent. For comparison, the efficiency of separate production of electricity and thermal energy is typically less than 50 percent, notes EPA.
The EPA CHP Partnership, established in 2001, is a voluntary program that encourages the use of CHP to reduce the environmental impact of power generation. The partnership works closely with energy users, the CHP industry, state and local governments, and other energy stakeholders to facilitate the development of new projects and to promote energy, environmental and economic benefits.
