Forest Products Industry Combined Heat and Power (FS-24-05)
Combined heat and power (CHP) is an energy efficient mode of simultaneous steam and electricity generation. In 2018, the US forest products industry produced 32% of all the CHP power generated by US manufacturing industries. Over 40 billion kWh of electricity were cogenerated by the US forest products industry in 2018, representing 95% of all on-site electricity generated by the sector. Based purely upon the energy efficiency benefits of CHP, the US pulp and paper sector avoids over 12 million metric tons of CO2e annually by using CHP compared to the separate generation of steam and electricity. Pulp and paper and wood product facilities utilize predominantly biomass-based CHP to generate steam and electricity with very low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Life cycle GHG emission intensities (emissions per kWh of electricity produced) from forest products industry generated electricity are highly negative when avoided GHG emissions are considered. The US forest products sector sold 6,449 million kWh in 2018, which helps contribute to greening of the US electrical grid. Given that electricity is being generated at the point of use, forest product CHP systems also contribute to overall electrical grid resiliency, i.e., electricity can still be generated and utilized at a mill even during grid power disruptions or outages.
Keywords: Combined heat and power, CHP, greenhouse gas emissions, avoided greenhouse gas emissions, pulp and paper, electricity generation, biomass, energy efficiency, wood products, forest products
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