DOE Enlists Burns & McDonnell to Develop New Cogen System

A new type of building cooling, heating and power system, integrating on-site power generation with heating, cooling and humidity control, is now under development by Burns & McDonnell, Kansas City, Mo., with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Teaming up with Solar Turbines, Inc., and Broad USA, the group was awarded $3 million to design and construct a prototype system, that is expected to increase energy efficiency, reduce air pollution and improve indoor air quality, in addition to protecting end-users from power outages and rising electricity rates.

“Today, approximately two-thirds of the fuel energy used to generate electricity in the U.S. is wasted in the form of lost heat,” said DOE Secretary Spencer Abraham. “In systems that productively use waste heat, overall energy efficiency levels can be raised to 70 percent or greater.”

While the developing team has yet to decide whether a university, hospital, corporate campus or a web-hosting facility will be used as the test site, the new system is slated to be up and running by spring 2002.

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