NOx Emissions Impacts from Widespread Deployment of CHP in ...

NOx Emissions Report
than 200,000 businesses in the region, including each business’ geocoded location, for
utilization within a geographic information system (GIS), along with its North American
Industry Classification System (NAICS) code. NAICS codes were used to identify the
most promising CHP candidate business types within the region.
The building stock was analyzed by building type. The viability of CHP in each building
type was roughly estimated by considering building operation relative to the following
factors. The viability of CHP development in a commercial or institutional building is
enhanced by positive answers to these criteria.
• Does the facility have a need for hot water, steam, or other thermal energy?
• Do the building’s electrical and thermal loads show strong coincidence?
• Does the facility operate continuously (24 hr x 365 days)?
• Do the loads have low seasonal variations?
• Does the facility need high power reliability?
After thoroughly examining all the area’s commercial and institutional buildings via the
infoUSA database, an initial list of roughly 200 facility types were identified where CHP
was possible. Subsequent iterative analysis narrowed the number of facility types that
both offered strong CHP viability and were well represented in the region to the
following five broad categories:
• Healthcare
• Hotel and apartments
• Office buildings
• Schools
• Retail
A number of other building type categories or specific one-off buildings could potentially
support attractive CHP projects, but were not included in this study due to difficulty
estimating the size and characteristics of such systems. For example, the Houston
Intercontinental Airport, Hobby Airport, the Ports of Houston and Galveston, certain
waste water treatment facilities, refrigerated warehouses, area breweries, and other
facilities could host viable CHP projects, potentially totaling to between 50-100 MW of
electrical capacity.
2.2 Developing Prototype Buildings
The five building categories considered in the study were evaluated to further
characterize actual building types existing in the HGB region. The evaluation involved
examining the literature regarding building analysis and various data sources specific to
HGB, such as the U.S. Census and County Appraisal District databases. Based upon the
picture that emerged of the existing building stock, the five building categories were
broken into sub-categories that fit to the actual building stock existing in the region. The
overall categories and building quantities in HGB are shown in Table 2-1 below.
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