Please join us for the 2016 Michigan Combined Heat & Power (CHP) Conference at Oakland University this coming Tuesday, May 10.
Business and policy leaders will be at Oakland University (OU) in Rochester Tuesday, May 10 for the 2016 Michigan CHP Conference. The day-long event will explore the use of combined heat and power (CHP) to increase energy efficiency by reducing energy waste, ultimately saving money for those who deploy it. The conference runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Oakland Center on the Rochester campus and is co-hosted by the OU School of Engineering and Computer Science and the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council (EIBC).
Featured will be presentations by Graeme Miller of the Energy Resources Center at the University of Illinois, Chicago; Lauren Ray of GEM Energy; and Dr. Fred Jones, owner of Cogen Designs. Conferees will also have an opportunity tour OU’s state-of-the-art Central Heating Plant CHP installation and Engineering Center.
Registration ranges from $10 to $60 and includes lunch. The event is open to the media.
“We’re looking forward to thought-provoking presentations on the role CHP technology can play in meeting our state’s energy needs and to connecting suppliers with potential end-users,” said Liesl Eichler Clark, president of the Michigan EIBC. “These discussions are very timely given the Michigan Legislature’s deliberation over a new state energy policy.”
Also known as cogeneration, CHP systems generate electricity and useful thermal energy in a single, integrated package. Heat that is normally wasted in conventional centralized power generation is recovered as useful energy from on-site CHP, avoiding losses that would otherwise be incurred from the separate generation of heat and power. While the conventional method of producing centralized electric power has a typical efficiency of 30 to 40 percent, CHP systems can operate at overall efficiencies in excess of 80 percent through the recovery and beneficial use of the otherwise rejected waste heat.
“Michigan is faced with a confluence of market, technology and environmental forces that will change the landscape of electrical power generation,” said Jim Leidel, Director of Clean Energy Systems at OU. “As we look to deliver energy in a clean and efficient way, CHP will be an important part of the solution. Using low carbon natural gas and by recycling wasted thermal energy, we can reduce our carbon footprint while increasing the resiliency of our electrical infrastructure with positive cash-flow installations. This is win-win technology”
The Michigan CHP Conference is sponsored by Opterra Energy Services along with co-sponsors: Consumers Energy, DTE Energy, GEM Energy, Michigan CAT and Trane Building Advantage, Sustainable Partners LLC, 5 Lakes Energy LLC, Invenergy LLC, the Michigan Agency for Energy, WW Williams and Peaker Services. For more information visit: Michigan CHP Conference.
Posted by Jamie Scripps, Principal
Thursday, May 5, 2016