June 20, 2005 The web is a wonderful resource and it yields many fabulous tools for the betterment of mankind. This is such a tool - it's free software to assist people in making informed decisions about energy projects. The new CHP Project Analysis Model can be used world-wide to easily evaluate the energy production, life-cycle costs and greenhouse gas emissions reduction for combined heat & power projects. It can be used to evaluate multiple applications including: power; heating; cooling; single buildings or multiple buildings; industrial processes; communities; district heating and district cooling. ... and did we say it's free ... tell your friends (form at the bottom of the article)- and can be downloaded free-of-charge here.
The CHP Project Analysis Model permits analysis with a wide range of renewable and non-renewable fuels (which can be used in parallel), including landfill gas, biomass, bagasse, biodiesel, hydrogen, natural gas, oil/diesel, coal, municipal waste, etc. These fuels can be evaluated using multiple types of power, heating and/or cooling equipment, including reciprocating engines, gas turbines, gas turbine - combined cycle, steam turbines, geothermal systems, fuel cells, wind turbines, hydro turbines, photovoltaic modules, boilers, heat pumps, biomass systems, heaters, furnaces, compressors, absorption chillers, etc., all working under various operating conditions (base load, intermediate load and/or peak load).
Available in 21 languages, the RETScreen model also accounts for emerging rules under the Kyoto Protocol (including the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Joint Implementation (JI) and emissions trading).
The product database integrated within the CHP model includes data for 5,880 power, heating and cooling systems manufactured worldwide. The weather database integrated within the model provides access to meteorological data covering the entire surface of the planet, including 4,720 ground-monitoring stations and NASA satellite data. The model also includes an online manual, a Metric/Imperial unit switch, more than 12 computational tools (e.g. landfill gas calculator), and a new Sensitivity & Risk Analysis worksheet, which carries out a Monte Carlo simulation.
