MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., Aug. 30, 2001 – Honeywell said today that the Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $4.3 million to Honeywell Laboratories for the development of an innovative modular packaged system for large building cooling, heating and power generation.
The packaged system will use the substantial heat by-product of electricity generation to raise overall system energy efficiency from a typical 30% to 70% or greater.
Roughly two-thirds of the fuel energy used to generate electricity in the U.S. is wasted in the form of discarded heat. Employing small-scale power generation systems located close to the point of use–known as distributed energy resources, or DER–facilitates use of this waste heat to provide building cooling, heating and humidity control.
“This work positions Honeywell to offer more flexible, lower cost and much more energy-efficient solutions to building owners and operators. These are key attributes for effective energy management in the deregulated markets of the future,” noted Kevin Madden, General Manager of Honeywell’s Energy Services Team.
Honeywell Energy Saving Contract
Honeywell will develop the key to the modular system–a hierarchical controller that coordinates the functions of package components in response to a building’s electric and thermal loads to achieve optimal efficiency. The controller will also be readily configurable, enabling variability in the modular makeup of the system package. Other system modules include a 2-to-5-megawatt turbine generator, a 500-to-2,000-refrigerant-ton absorption chiller and a heat recovery steam generator. Initial installation and testing will be at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
The award, one of seven administered by Oak Ridge National Laboratories, is intended to develop packaged/modular systems for commercial and institutional buildings. The DOE focus is on innovative integration of DER power generation, thermal recovery, and thermally activated cooling and humidity control technologies.
The Honeywell Laboratories team includes the Honeywell Energy Services Team, Broad USA Inc., I.C. Thomasson Associates, Inc. and Chelsea Group, Ltd.
The objective of the DOE Office of Power Technologies in developing the DER program is to make available easy to order and install low-emission packaged systems that will improve electric reliability, support existing utility grids, and increase energy and economic efficiency.
