Combined heat and power (CHP)

This fact sheet from the Environmental and Energy Study Institute describes combined heat and power (CHP) technology, which integrates the production of heat and electric power into a single process to increase energy efficiency and reliability. It details the current state of CHP in the United States, its economic and environmental benefits, its role in disaster resilience, and the policy barriers and goals associated with its expansion.

• CHP systems significantly increase energy efficiency by combining heat and power production, achieving efficiencies of 70 percent or more, whereas separate production is typically less than 45 percent efficient. In the United States, there are over 4,100 systems with more than 82 gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity, which accounts for approximately eight percent of the total U.S. electric power generation capacity.
• The chemical industry holds the largest share of U.S. CHP capacity at 29 percent, followed by petroleum refining at 18 percent and the pulp and paper industry at 14 percent. The DOE and EPA estimate that adding 40 GW of new CHP capacity could save U.S. businesses and industry $10 billion annually in energy costs and reduce national energy demand by one percent, with investments of $40 to $80 billion potentially paying back in four to eight years.
• CHP provides critical resilience during extreme weather events and power grid failures, proving more reliable than emergency electrical back-up generators. Examples include its role in maintaining essential services for hospitals, nursing homes, and wastewater treatment plants during Hurricane Sandy in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, as well as after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in Louisiana.
• The United States underutilizes CHP compared to countries like Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands, where it represents 30 percent or more of power production. While there is an untapped potential of about 130 GW, deployment is hindered by regulatory and legal barriers, including interconnection standards, backup power rates, and emission standards. In August 2012, President Obama ordered federal agencies to increase U.S. CHP use by 40 GW (50 percent) by 2020.
• Biomass-fueled CHP can be net carbon negative on a life cycle basis by avoiding methane emissions from decomposing forestry, agricultural, or urban waste. Currently, more than seven GW of biomass CHP capacity is online. These systems provide reliable baseload power 24/7, unlike intermittent sources such as wind (available ~36% of the time) or photovoltaic solar (available ~22% of the time).

APA

Stowe, N. (2013). Combined heat and power (CHP). Environmental and Energy Study Institute. https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-combined-heat-and-power

Chicago

Stowe, Ned. Combined heat and power (CHP). Environmental and Energy Study Institute, 2013. https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-combined-heat-and-power.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Stowe |first1=Ned |title=Combined heat and power (CHP) |publisher=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |date=22 May 2013 |url=https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-combined-heat-and-power |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stowe2013combined, author = {Stowe, Ned}, title = {{Combined heat and power (CHP)}}, institution = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2013}, month = may, url = {https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-combined-heat-and-power}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }