ABSTRACT
Micro-cogeneration, residential cogeneration, and small-scale combined heat and power are synonyms for technologies that concurrently produce electricity and heat from a single fuel source. By convention, these terms apply to systems with electrical outputs less than 15 kW. This chapter provides an introduction to micro-cogeneration technologies based upon fuel cells, internal combustion engines, and Stirling engines for the combined production of heat and electricity within buildings. The emerging technologies have the potential to deliver energy services more efficiently while reducing environmental impacts. Due to the complex performance characteristics, these technologies can only be accurately assessed by building performance simulation programs that treat building thermal performance concurrently with electrical and heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems. The chapter outlines the methods for modelling micro-cogeneration devices as well as techniques for calibrating these models to represent the performance of specific devices using measured data.
