The use of CHP and absorption cooling in cold storage

In recent years, it has become standard practice to consider combined heat and power (CHP) systems early in the design stage of commercial buildings. With new initiatives from the UK government on reduced energy use, energy e fficient systems such as CHP have been considered for a wider application p articularly within industrial building design. The viability of CHP in a ty pical cold storage application is described ill this paper. The electrical energy and heating requirements are defined and used to assess the annual e nergy consumption of a traditional cold storage design using a thermal mode l. The analysis is then used to consider the economics of different CHP con figurations, which includes an integrated CI-IP and absorption system used to provide chilled glycol for the cold storage facilities. The additional c apital cost of each configuration is shown and this is used to calculate th e payback period. The results show that an attractive payback period of app roximately four years for a combined CHP and absorption system may be achie ved. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.