Potential for Distributed Combined Heat and Power in an Urban Environment

Combined heat and power (CHP) has the potential to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by utilizing waste heat that is typically rejected to the environment. CHP systems have been used to satisfy loads on university and corporate campuses but there may be other clusters of mixed used buildings that are viable for a CHP system. In an urban environment, such as New York City, high electricity loads and space heating loads are located in close proximity to each other, whether in a single building or in a neighborhood. This indicates a potential for clusters of buildings demand that could be satisfied by CHP. The analysis presented attempts to determine the potential for CHP systems for the 28,840 blocks of New York City many of which incorporate buildings of mix use. The systems are sized to meet the electrical base load and are considered viable if the CHP efficiency (useful electrical and thermal energy divided by the fuel input) is greater than 60% and the system size is larger than 30kW. The analysis determined that of the 28,840 blocks in New York City, 3,205 could be considered for a CHP system.