There is a number of factors that drive organisations towards finding new ways to power their offices, machines, and general working lives. From not being able to receive enough power from the grid to being environmentally conscious and driven towards more sustainable business practices – microturbines offer a viable energy solution for many who are in need.

Co and trigeneration microturbines have many benefits for a large assortment customers – from universities to businesses, schools to data centres, manufacturing facilities to aquatic and leisure facilities. Trigeneration is not just great for the environment – it could be kinder on your pocket also.

Cost effective and environmentally friendly

Although you can run a microturbine on propane or biogas, natural gas is most often chosen, mainly due to its lower emissions.

In areas within Australia, for example, Victoria and other states that rely on coal-fired generation, co and trigeneration microturbines that run on natural gas are significantly lower in carbon dioxide emissions for the electricity they produce. Natural gas does not produce all of the toxic particulates and emissions that diesel does. 

Co and trigeneration is also environmentally sound as it produces additional free energy. For example, if the energy created by the microturbine is recovered in the form of hot water – or if chilled water is generated through an absorption chiller, the process becomes very efficient. This multiplied energy effect adds to the level of environmental friendliness.

Another benefit is that natural gas, the fuel which most microgeneration users choose to use, is very cost effective.

According to the Environmental Information Administration's (EIA) graph on the Henry Hub Natural Gas Spot Price, the cost of natural gas is in sharp decline. Natural gas prices fell from $13.42 per million British thermal units (BTU) in October 2006 to $1.92 per million BTU in April 2016.

Increased power security

Power security is one of the main advantages of a microturbine energy solution. Many organisations, such as nursing homes and hospitals, rely on their power supply to keep people alive. Any interruption to this power supply could be catastrophic, affecting their whole operation in damaging ways.

Additionally, grid failures can also be very costly, sometimes setting businesses back weeks at a time. For example, the Auckland City power outages of 1998 displaced 76,000 office workers and residents of Auckland's central business district for up to five weeks.

Lower your emissions with co and trigeneration

Capstone microturbines produce an extremely low level of both carbon monoxide and NOx – the waste product broadly cast as noxes that generates photochemical smog. Because the machines don't use any oil or coolants, that have almost no volatile organic chemicals, called vocs, which form formaldehyde. 

Capstone microturbines can use biogas, which is a renewable fuel generated from sewage gas, waste food or piggeries. Piggeries can produce natural gas on site, by breaking down the sewage gas from methane in a digester. This biogas created from sewage gas is a renewable fuel and therefore is a considerable benefit to the global push to reduce harmful carbon emissions.

Natural gas is the lowest emitting fossil fuel and microturbines are the cleanest burning engines, so together they make an effective low-emission combination.

Is your company trying to achieve its carbon emission goals? Perhaps your business is seeking to operate more efficiently, both by creating less environmental pollution as well as saving money. To find out more about how Capstone microturbines can make your organisation more efficient, contact the team at Optimal Group today.