Environmental benefits of natural gas cooling technologies

Conference · Wed Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1997

OSTI ID:353511

Pedersen, T W; Caponegro, M A ^[1]

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1. Army construction Engineering Research Labs., Champaign, IL (United States)

Approximately one-third of all energy consumption and two-thirds of total energy expenditures at Department of Defense (DOD) fixed facilities are electricity related. Of this, between 30 to 60% of the electric costs are due to summer air conditioning loads. A reduction in electric consumption during air conditioning seasons can lead to utility savings. An opportunity also exists to lessen the environmental impact caused by old and inefficient equipment by replacing it with more efficient and advanced technology equipment. The US Army Construction Engineering Laboratories has been investigating advanced gas cooling technologies as a means of reducing the energy costs at DOD fixed installations. This technology includes absorption and gas engine-driven chillers as replacement units for existing electric-driven chillers and desiccant units displacing dehumidification by electric-driven chillers. As a result of implementing this new technology, overall emissions are reduced by burning natural gas on site as opposed to producing electricity remotely (via coal, oil or natural gas) and distributing it to bases as an energy source for driving electric-driven chillers. This paper will review gas cooling technologies and report on the predicted reduction of SO{sub x}, NO{sub x}, and particulate emissions at several project installations throughout the United States. The analysis was performed using the Renewable Energy Engineering Program (REEP) software package

• OSTI ID: 353511
• Report Number(s): CONF-970677--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
AIR CONDITIONERS
AIR POLLUTION ABATEMENT
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
NATURAL GAS
NITROGEN OXIDES
PARTICULATES
R CODES
SULFUR OXIDES