CHP is helping to transform London
London Mayor Boris Johnson endorsed combined heat and power (CHP) during last week’s EcoBuild show in London.
He said wider use of the technology was a key aspect of the Greater London Authority’s strategy to make the city ‘cleaner, greener and cooler’ and to reduce carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2025.
Mr Johnson highlighted annual savings of £1 million being made by 42 public buildings operated by Transport for London, the police and the fire service adding that CHP was a significant contributor in many of these buildings.
“The recession is a positive incentive to start saving money and £1m is a significant sum – there is a lot more money to be saved out there,” he told a large audience in the Arena at Earl’s Court exhibition centre.
He announced that the GLA was funding the refurbishment of many ‘affordable’ homes using CHP and a range of other ‘green’ measures.
The Mayor added that there was huge “pent up demand” for retrofitting and, while it was not the “sexiest or most interesting” activity in the world, he was “obsessed” with it.
David Shaw, business manager of Baxi SenerTec UK – the company that has provided CHP engines for 18 London fire stations – welcomed the Mayor’s support for the technology.
“CHP is really coming into its own now,” he said. “There is a growing appetite for generating electricity close to the point of use to reduce our dependence on highly wasteful central power generation.
“Every year we waste enough heat from power stations to heat most of the buildings in the country – that’s a colossal crime. Around 70 per cent of the energy used to produce electricity is wasted, partly in transmission losses, but mostly in waste heat thrown away by the power stations’ giant cooling towers.
“Europe loses the equivalent of the output of 35 power stations this way every year. It’s clear we need a new model for power generation,” said Mr Shaw.