Energy recycling is the energy recovery process of utilizing energy that would normally be wasted, usually by converting it into electricity or thermal energy. Undertaken at manufacturing facilities, power plants, and large institutions such as hospitals and universities, The process is noted for its potential to mitigate global warming profitably. This work is usually done in the form of combined heat and power (also called cogeneration) or waste heat recovery.

Waste heat recovery is a process that catches excess heat that would normally be discharged at manufacturing facilities and converts it to electricity and steam, or returns to the manufacturing process in the form of heated air, water, glycol, or oil. A “waste heat recovery boiler” contains a series of water-filled tubes located throughout the area where heat is released. When high-temperature heat meets the boiler, steam is produced, which in turn powers a turbine that creates electricity. This process is similar to that of other fired boilers, but in this case, waste heat replaces a traditional flame. No fossil fuels are used in this process. Metals, glass, pulp and paper, silicon and other production plants are typical locations where waste heat recovery can be effective. Waste heat recovery from air conditioning is also used as an alternative to wasting heat to the atmosphere from chiller plants. Heat recovered in summer from chiller plants is stored in Thermalbanks in the ground and recycled back to the same building in winter by a heat pump to provide heating without burning fossil fuels. This elegant approach saves energy – and carbon – in both seasons. Combined heat and power (CHP), also called cogeneration, is, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency, “an efficient, clean, and reliable approach to generating electricity and heat energy from a single source fuel. By installing a CHP system designed to meet the thermal and electrical costs of a facility, it is possible to increase the facility’s operational efficiency and decrease energy costs. At the same time, CHP reduces the emission of greenhouse gases, which contributes to global climate change. “When electricity is produced on a site with a CHP plant, it is excess heat that is recycled. Enabling technologies: Heat pumps and thermal energy storage technologies that can not be used to reduce the energy consumption of electricity. . The use of water in the form of a water source, such as seawater, lake water, the ground, the air, or waste heat from a process). Thermal storage technologies can be used for the storage of sensible energy (or by changing the temperature of a medium) or latent energy (ie through phase changes of a medium , such between water and slush or ice). Short-term thermal storages can be used for peak-shaving in district heating or electrical distribution systems. The use of natural energy (eg collected via solar-thermal collectors, or dry cooling towers used to collect winter’s cold), waste energy (eg HVAC equipment, industrial processes or power plants), gold surplus energy (eg as seasonally of hyropower projects or intermittently from wind farms). The Drake Landing Solar Community (Alberta, Canada) is illustrative. boronhole thermal energy storage allows the community to get 97% of its year-round heat from solar collectors on the garage roofs, which is most of the heat collected in summer. Types of storages for sensitive energy include insulated tanks, borehole clusters in substrates ranging from gravel to bedrock, deep aquifers, or shallow lined pits that are insulated on top. Some types of storage are capable of storing heat or cold between opposing seasons (particularly if very large), and some storage applications require inclusion of a heat pump. These are called phase-change materials (PCMs). boronhole thermal energy storage allows the community to get 97% of its year-round heat from solar collectors on the garage roofs, which is most of the heat collected in summer. Types of storages for sensitive energy include insulated tanks, borehole clusters in substrates ranging from gravel to bedrock, deep aquifers, or shallow lined pits that are insulated on top. Some types of storage are capable of storing heat or cold between opposing seasons (particularly if very large), and some storage applications require inclusion of a heat pump. These are called phase-change materials (PCMs). boronhole thermal energy storage allows the community to get 97% of its year-round heat from solar collectors on the garage roofs, which is most of the heat collected in summer. Types of storages for sensitive energy include insulated tanks, borehole clusters in substrates ranging from gravel to bedrock, deep aquifers, or shallow lined pits that are insulated on top. Some types of storage are capable of storing heat or cold between opposing seasons (particularly if very large), and some storage applications require inclusion of a heat pump. These are called phase-change materials (PCMs). gold shallow lined pits that are insulated on top. Some types of storage are capable of storing heat or cold between opposing seasons (particularly if very large), and some storage applications require inclusion of a heat pump. These are called phase-change materials (PCMs). gold shallow lined pits that are insulated on top. Some types of storage are capable of storing heat or cold between opposing seasons (particularly if very large), and some storage applications require inclusion of a heat pump. These are called phase-change materials (PCMs).

Electric Turbo Compounding (ETC) is a technology solution to the challenge of improving energy efficiency for the stationary power generation industry. Fossil fuel based power generation is predicted to continue for decades, especially in developing economies. This is against the global need to reduce carbon emissions, of which, a high percentage is produced by the power sector worldwide. ETC works by making gas and diesel-powered gensets (Electric Generators) work more efficiently and cleaner, by recovering waste energy from the exhaust to improve power density and fuel efficiency.

Both waste heat recovery and CHP constitute “decentralized” energy production, which is in contrast to traditional “centralized” power generated at large power plants run by regional utilities. The “centralized” system has an average efficiency of 34 percent, requiring three units of energy to produce one unit of power. By capturing both heat and power, CHP and waste heat recovery projects have higher efficiencies. A 2007 Department of Energy study found the potential for 135,000 megawatts of CHP in the US, and a Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory study identified about 64,000 megawatts that could be obtained from industrial waste energy, not counting CHP. These studies suggest about 200,000 megawatts-gold 20% of total power capacity Widespread use of energy recycling could be reduced by global warming emissions by an estimated 20 percent. Indeed, as of 2005, about 42 percent of US greenhouse gas pollution from the production of electricity and 27 percent of the production of heat. Advocates contend that recycled energy costs are lower than most other energy options in current use. Currently RecyclingEnergy Int. Corp. takes advantage of recycling energy in heat recovery and latent heat pump and CHCP. Advocates contend that recycled energy costs are lower than most other energy options in current use. Currently RecyclingEnergy Int. Corp. takes advantage of recycling energy in heat recovery and latent heat pump and CHCP. Advocates contend that recycled energy costs are lower than most other energy options in current use. Currently RecyclingEnergy Int. Corp. takes advantage of recycling energy in heat recovery and latent heat pump and CHCP.

Perhaps the first modern use of energy recycling was done by Thomas Edison. His 1882 Pearl Street Station, the world’s first commercial power plant, was a CHP plant, producing both electricity and thermal energy while using waste heat to warm neighboring buildings. Recycling allowed Edison’s plant to achieve approximately 50 percent efficiency. By the early 1900s, regulations emerged to promote rural electrification through the construction of centralized plants managed by regional utilities. These regulations are not necessarily promoted throughout the countryside, but they are also discussed. They even went so far to make it illegal for non-utilities to sell power. By 1978, In the United States, the use of renewable energy products has been promoted with the use of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA), which encourages the use of energy. CHP proliferated plants, however, producing 8 percent of all energy in the US However, the bill left implementation and enforcement up to individual states, resulting in little or nothing being done in many parts of the country. In 2008 Tom Casten, chairman of Recycled Energy Development, said that “We think we could make about 19 to 20 percent of US electricity with heat that is currently thrown away by industry.” Outside the US, energy recycling is more common. Denmark is probably the most active energy recycler, obtaining about 55% of its energy from CHP and waste heat recovery.