Cohousing-L Mailing List: Cogeneration for Cohousing?

[Raines Cohen (coho-L]

At Berkeley's Earth Day last week, a cogeneration consultant suggested to 
me that we consider cogeneration for our project.

As he described it, the differential between retail and wholesale gas 
prices, and the high electric prices in California, make cogeneration so 
viable right now that energy companies will provide the equipment for 
free. After five years, we (or more likely the developer) owns it and our 
electric prices drop in half.

Side effect: heat (in potentially useful form).

Size: equivalent of a small tent, or a couple of cars (of interest given 
that the developer has been unable to secure leases on all the restaurant 
space as part of our urban city-block-size project).

Weight: significant, but this would be on ground level or in basement, 
ideally in the non-residential side of the project.

Noise: supposedly minimal, but I'd want to see it.

Other requirements: ventilation.
Other benefits: lower power transmission costs, more efficient use of 
energy.

Ideal for: mixed-use projects about our size.

Anybody with experience/expertise in this area?

Raines

Raines Cohen <coho-L [at] raines.com>
Member, Swans Market Cohousing - Old Oakland neighborhood, CA
All units reserved; Groundbreaking ceremonies May 27; occupancy April '99