Polygeneration and HVAC

Abstract

Decentralized cogeneration may help in energy conservation if a large enough amount of heat can be actually recovered. This restriction is becoming more and more severe because of the growing effectiveness of modern power plants. Re-conversion of heating into cooling is not competitive with the use of modern vapor compression chillers. It may just help to extend a little the time during which the co-generation plant can be effectively used. A co-generation plant should not be sized above 30% of the maximal heating power in order to stay energy efficient. The results of a long term case study are summarized in the paper. These results show the incidence of the plant over-sizing : in this case, the system is consuming more than a classical solutio