Cogeneration

Cogeneration (also referred to as Combined Heat and Power, CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat.  Conventional electric generating plants emit the heat created into the environment as waste heat.  Cogeneration captures this heat and utilizes it, therefore, using the fuel more efficiently.

Below the Student Center, in the Central Power Plant, is a cogeneration facility capable of producing 2,300 kilowatts of electricity per hour.  The electricity produced by the facility could supply 2,064 average residential customers annually.

The cogeneration plant has been supplying electricity to Hofstra University since September 1990.  Last year cogeneration supplied over 27% of the campus' electric needs.