Energy supply performance and environmental load-reduction effect of a cogeneration system for an apartment building using distributed heat storage technology

In order to make distributed generation systems for apartment buildings economically viable, it is essential to develop an efficient and low-cost heat supply system. We are developing a new cogeneration system (Neighboring CoGeneration system: NCG system). The key concept of this system is to install a heat storage unit for the hot water supply, floor heating, and bath heating in each house, and to connect the heat storage units by a single-loop hot water pipe. The system leads to time leveling of the total heat supply and reduced installation costs. Furthermore, it is expected that the cogeneration can operate according to electrical demand because of the large heat storage capacity of the system. In this study, a dynamic simulation model is developed to evaluate the performance and environmental load-reduction effect of the NCG system for 50 households. The results show that the NCG system can supply sufficient heat for peak demand in winter and reduce annual CO2 emissions by 23% on average. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 42(8): 745–757, 2013; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj). DOI 10.1002/htj.20376