Reductions in energy use and environmental emissions achievable with utility-based cogeneration: Simplified illustrations for Ontario

Significant reductions in energy use and environmental emissions are demons trated to be achievable when electrical utilities use cogeneration. Simplif ied illustrations of these reductions are presented for the province of Ont ario, based on applying cogeneration to the facilities of the main provinci al electrical utility. Three cogeneration illustrations are considered: (i) fuel cogeneration is substituted for fuel electrical generation and fuel h eating, (ii) nuclear cogeneration is substituted for nuclear electrical gen eration and fuel heating, and (iii) fuel cogeneration is substituted for fu el electrical generation and electrical heating. The substitution of cogene ration for separate electrical and heat generation processes for all illust rations considered leads to significant reductions in fuel energy consumpti on (24-61%), which lead to approximately proportional reductions in emissio ns. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.