HI-02-03-3 -- District Energy Efficiency Improvement with Absorption Cooling: The Hungarian Experience

It is well known that with combined heat and power (cogeneration) systems one can reach 80% to 90% joint energy production efficiency, while it is only 30% to 40% for separated electrical power and 80% to 90% for heating-only systems. A basic requirement is that the ratio between the two energy forms must be within certain limits.

Average electrical power consumption varies within a 30% to 50% wide range, while it does within 200% to 300% —in the temperate zone—for heating, during a full year of operation. Summer—low heating load—period is specially critical for load balance. This balance and the total efficiency can be improved by utilizing absorption cooling. Cooling is otherwise a requirement for summer operation of buildings.

Basic considerations and case studies are discussed in the paper.

Units: SI