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Partnership
Partnership
CHP Partnership Documents
- CHP Partnership Fact Sheet (PDF) (2 pp, 97K, About PDF) is formatted to print and share with potential Partners.
- EPA's CHP Partnership "2007 Partnership Update" (PDF) (24 pp, 980K, About PDF) describes the EPA CHP Partnership and its accomplishments in 2007.
What Is the Partnership?
EPA established the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Partnership in 2001 to encourage cost-effective CHP projects in the United States. The CHP Partnership is a voluntary program that promotes high-efficiency CHP technology, thereby reducing pollution created by less-efficient, large-scale utilities.
The CHP Partnership promotes CHP by fostering cooperative relationships with the CHP industry, state and local governments, and other relevant stakeholders.
How the Partnership Works
EPA works with companies and organizations (see below) to promote the economic, environmental, and energy infrastructure benefits of CHP. In return, EPA provides tools and services that support Partners as they investigate and develop new CHP capacity.
Industry Partners include facilities in the industrial, commercial, district energy, and institutional sectors, as well as project developers and equipment suppliers.
State and Local Partners include state, local, and tribal energy, environmental, and economic development agencies.
Other Relevant Stakeholders include end users of CHP technology, financiers, utilities, and other organizations that promote distributed generation.
Please visit the Benefits of Joining to learn more about why your organization or business should become a Partner!
Why EPA Supports CHP
EPA promotes greater use of CHP because significant cost-effective emissions reductions can be achieved by increasing the efficiency of the nation's energy supply. CHP systems achieve effective electrical efficiencies of 50 to 70 percent, compared to average fossil-fueled power plant efficiencies of 33 percent in the United States. This improvement in efficiency translates to:
- Reduced total fossil fuel use
- Reduced emissions of regulated air pollutants
- Reduced emissions of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas associated with global climate change
Furthermore, through its use in onsite electricity generation, CHP may reduce transmission and distribution losses that occur when distributing centrally generated power—resulting in further efficiency gains.
Partnership Accomplishments
As of March 2009, the CHP Partnership has more than 285 Partners dedicated to promoting and installing CHP.
Accomplishments from 2001 to 2008 include:
- Assisting more than 410 CHP projects, representing 4,764 megawatts (MW) of new CHP capacity.
- On an annual basis, these projects will prevent the emission of 11.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
- These emissions reductions are equivalent to 2.7 million acres of pine or fir forests storing carbon for one year or the emissions from 2.1 million passenger vehicles per year.