In an article first published in The Australian Hospital Engineer, Craig Walter, manager – Emerging Markets, A.G. Coombs Pty, examines some of the key considerations for healthcare estates teams looking at installing cogeneration or trigeneration systems and technology.
Retrofitting buildings with cogeneration and trigeneration can be a positive investment decision, reducing energy costs, improving NABERS (the National Australian Built Environment Rating System) ratings, providing energy security, and improving overall system reliability. The application of the technology has specific design characteristics, which must be fully understood, and correctly implemented, to ensure that planned and optimal return on investments are achieved.
What are cogeneration and trigeneration?
Cogeneration technology involves an efficient application of gas-powered electrical generation, where heat recovery, as a by-product of the gas generator, is used for building heating. Trigeneration is where an additional application of the heat recovery is used for cooling, via an absorption chiller, providing a third form of output energy. For some time, building owners have been demonstrating the use of alternate energy sources, such as replacing electric duct heaters with gas-powered heating hot water systems, which use a cleaner and cheaper fuel source (natural gas) to provide the same function. With further increasing energy prices, and the rapid demand for greener buildings, cogeneration and trigeneration should form a key component of any underperforming building energy assessment.
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