Cogeneration & Trigeneration – AE Smith
Cogeneration & Trigeneration – AE Smith
| AE Smith Brings Cogeneration to Mechanical Services |
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| As the largest privately owned mechanical contractors in Australia, AE Smith continues to lead the way in implementing innovative means of improving energy efficiency, reducing overall emissions and enhancing Green Star building ratings. Representing the front line of this focus AE Smith has recently secured the contract to design, supply and install a full package cogeneration solution for Brisbane’s King George Central building. Located in Brisbane’s CBD, King George Central represents the first time a mechanical services company – rather than an electrical contractor – has been responsible for delivering the entire cogeneration package in a commercial office building project. It’s a move that has enabled the 28,000sqm development to target an ambitious 6 star (As Built) Green Star rating and 5 Star NABERS rating, through significant reductions in energy use and HVAC related CO2 emissions. “What we’ve achieved at King George Central is that we’re now delivering the entire packaged solution for cogeneration installation,” says AE Smith Project Manager, Ashley Robinson. “That includes the design, supply and installation of a gas generator, absorption chiller, emissions control (Selective Catalytic Reduction), generator and grid synchronization controls, and BMS energy management.” Also referred to as CHP, or Combined Heat and Power, cogeneration is the use of a heat engine to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat from the same fuel. Trigeneration sees an additional step incorporated, with the energy from the same source utilised to also produce cooling through the introduction of high efficiency absorption chillers. Robinson says that while cogeneration itself is not particularly new, there has been a significant increase in acceptance and integration of the technology into Australia’s commercial building market over the past three years. He attributes that largely to factors including rising electricity prices, improvements in absorption chiller technology and – importantly – an increased focus on environmental ratings on all new and future projects. “Environmental ratings are becoming a critical factor in decision making for prospective tenants,” he says. “What we’ve seen with King George Central and Leighton HQ, for example, is a high number of quality tenants being attracted to the development very early, based on the project’s ability to deliver strong NABERS and Green Star Ratings.” “It adds to AE Smith’s recent successes delivering a part cogeneration package for the new Leighton HQ in Brisbane – where building services systems have been designed to achieve the highest quality energy efficiencies,” adds Ashley. Doug Binns, General Manager of AE Smith Emerald Sustainable Performance, says that while cogeneration can seem “a bit like black magic” to some, it is essentially a process of harnessing the wasted energy that results as a by-product of power generation. That ‘waste heat’ is then converted into usable energy through cogeneration or trigeneration, increasing the overall efficiency of the system and resulting in both financial and environmental benefits. “This is also a very sustainable solution in terms of Greenhouse Gas emissions, as there is a high level of fuel substitution between coal-fired electricity off the grid and the natural gas for the ‘cogen’ engine,” says Binns. While conventional thermoelectric systems convert only about one third of the fuel energy into electricity, with the rest lost in the form of heat, co-generation allows more than 80% of the fuel's energy to be converted into usable energy, reducing emissions from commercial buildings and achieving marked improvements in both NABERS Energy and Green Star Ratings. According to Binns, additional environmental advantages include a dramatic reduction in CO2 production, estimated at up to 50% relative to the same delivered energy produced by electricity from coal. “With the imminent introduction of the Federal Government’s Mandatory Disclosure legislation (see page 2 for more information), the environmental performance of commercial properties will be paramount, and we are in a position to deliver real results for our clients in terms of energy efficiency and overall environmental performance,” he says. For more information about cogeneration and trigeneration, please contact Ashley Robinson on 0428 659 431. |
