Micro-CHP Systems for Residential Applications

Integrated micro-CHP (Cooling, Heating and Power) system solutions represent an opportunity to address all of the following requirements at once : conservation of scarce energy resources, moderation of pollutant release into our environment, and assured comfort for home owners. The objective of this effort was to establish strategies for development, demonstration, and sustainable commercialization of cost effective integrated CHP systems for residential applications. A unified approach to market and opportunity identification, technology assessment, specific system designs, adaptation to modular product platform component conceptual designs was employed. In this paper, the sensitivity of mass adoption to a broad range of variables, including technical parameter values, economic data and domestic characteristics, is being researched. Sensitive variables are the heat to power ratio and the total energetic efficiency of the micro-CHP units, the initial market price, the feed in remuneration scheme and the choice between fixed or variable electricity transport costs