This paper explores several methods for assessing the potential value of cooling, heating, and power (CHP) systems for commercial buildings and selecting optimal configurations of heat recovery options based on building load profiles. First, the authors examined the value of considering building electric load profile in e aluating the potential of on-site power generation. Then the benefits of new nondimensional parameters were assessed. These new parameters establish a methodology for evaluating the potential for heat recovery from on-site power generation with a simplified analysis. Five commercial buildings, ranging from 91,000 to 300,000 square feet, are evaluated at eight different geographical locations. In addition, this paper describes methods for optimizing IC engine driven on-site power generation with heat recovery based on local energy costs or building source energy use. This method employs a more sophisticated model for calculating annual energy/cost savings for CHP systems and allows optimization of basic parameters, such as the generator size and the heat recovery options. Finally, the benefits of power generation with maximized summer/winter heat recovery (CHP) are compared with those of power generation utilizing recoverable heat for space heating and domestic hot water purposes only (DGH) and power generation without heat recovery (DG).

Units: I-P