Cogeneration, also known as Combined Heat and Power (CHP), produces electricity and

heat using only a fuel source, leading to a reduction of energy wastage and less carbon
dioxide emissions when compared with traditional power plants. The main difficulty of
using this kind of process is planning the proper production of each type of energy, so
that the system meets its energy production goals while keeping the operating costs in
check.
In this work, the researchers are looking to optimize the cost of energy and the cost of
installation of a cogeneration plant for a hospital in Palestine, taking into consideration
the demand for each, electricity and heat. They selected this kind of facility due to its large
requirement for heat, hot water, steam, and cooling systems using chillers. Other possible
applications include hotels, aquatic centers, and industries that require large amounts of
steam, such as paper and plastic manufacturing.
They chose to use a linear programming model (LP), a simple mathematical formulation
widely used to optimize resources when we can write the main variables of the system
and its constraints as first-order equations or inequalities.
The decision variables in the model represent the amount of energy produced in the
system (Xijk) where i is the kind of cogeneration system used: a gas turbine, a combined
system of a gas turbine plus a steam turbine and the third option is a diesel engine; j
stands for the type of production, heat or power, and k is the working period, summer, or
winter.
This model is built to minimize the annual amount of energy consumed at the hospital,
hence, minimizing the annual cost of energy and the emissions responsible for pollution.
The model includes some groups of constraints relevant to the system like seasonal
demand of heat and power, the thermal efficiency of the system used, and whether heat
or power production comes from only one source, and provides a modified model that
includes selling the excess of electricity produced when possible.
Any cogeneration plant can use this linear programming model when the needed
information from the system is available (production costs, thermal efficiencies, seasonal
demand, etc.). The researchers chose to apply this model to a real case, the Nablus
Speciality Hospital. They used LINDO software to generate the solution of the model. The
solving process is done twice: to fulfill the heat demand and to fulfill the power demand,
so we can compare both scenarios.
Implementing the cogeneration system would cause total annual savings of $ 51,000
when choosing to fulfill the heat demand instead of the power demand. Another finding
was the reduction of more than 23 tons per year of carbon dioxide.
 Considering the results obtained, we can see the improvement made by using a
cogeneration system in the areas of interest: economic viability of the process, adequate
use of energy sources by the decrease of energy wastage and reduction of pollution.

Tibi, N. A., & Arman, H. (2006). A linear programming model to optimize the decision-
making to managing cogeneration system. Clean Technologies and Environmental
Policy, 9(3), 235–240. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-006-0075-2