Carbon and Energy Savings from Combined Heat and Power: A Closer Look

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze and update our estimates of CHP's potential for U.S. manufacturers. Typical efficiencies of available CHP technologies are used to estimate their energy use and carbon emissions. In calculating the baseline against which CHP is compared, we take into account efficiency improvements in both the industrial sector and in the electricity-producing sector. We find that manufacturers save energy and reduce their carbon emissions substantially if they replace all retiring boilers stocks and new additions to the stock (from 1994 to 2010), with existing cost-effective CHP technologies. Carbon equivalent (=12/44 carbon dioxide) emissions would be reduced by up to 70 million metric tons of carbon (MtC) per year in 2010, (18%-30% manufacturer's projected emissions), and energy use reduced by up to 7 Exajoule (EJ). These estimates also take into account growth in manufacturing, as forecast by AEO-98, and expected improvements in CHP, boilers, and electric generating technologies. However, without policy innovation, actual CHP installed by U.S. manufacturers will likely fall far short of our estimates.