How CHP Works

Combined heat and power (CHP), or cogeneration, generates electricity on site and captures the heat that would otherwise be wasted. By using one fuel input to produce two useful outputs, it reaches overall efficiencies that conventional separate supply cannot, but only when the recovered heat is actually used, which is the single condition that decides whether a CHP scheme is a triumph or an expensive mistake. This lesson covers the efficiency argument, how the heat is captured, and the heat-led rule that governs everything else in the course.