What is Cogeneration?
I have a friend in central New Hampshire who heats her house all winter long with a wood stove. What makes this notable is that her wood stove is also set up to meet her hot water demands.
This type of cogenerati
on is not that unusual, however, the practicality of this type of system is limited.
A more conventional and scalable cogeneration system, takes advantage of natural gas or propane as the fuel source. As the fuel burns electricity is generated. The waste heat produced from combustion is captured and used for water heating, space heating, pool and spa heating, and absorption chilling.
This type of combined heat and power system, or (CHP) has major potential commercial and residential applicability.
Currnet manufacturers of cogeneration systems include some well known companies, such as Honda http://world.honda.com/cogenerator/ and Cummins http://www.cumminspower.com/en/solutions/cogeneration/ As with any home energy system, a careful cost-benefit analysis must part of the analysis to determine the right way to meet your homes energy demands.
The home energy options that once were considered to be peripheral are now becoming more mainstream. This can be traced directly to these system's capacity for increased energy efficiency, their reduced environmental impact, and thier long term investment sensibility.
