Over the past few years the United States has surpassed Russia as the world's number one producer of natural gas and recently surpassed Saudi Arabia as the world’s number 1 producer of oil. Many Americans take pride in the United States being number 1, this desire to the best is deeply rooted in the American competitive spirit.
The intersection of the American competitive spirit and how we use energy is something that is worth noting. Sports analogies are a great way to communicate the complex dynamics and multifaceted intricacies that are associated with producing and using energy.
Perhaps the area where this is most evident can be found in how Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems are evaluated for cost-effectiveness. If you ask any sports fan how to best determine the expected winner for a particular game, the answer is simple; look at the spread. In sports, the “spread” is a mathematical tool that identifies the expected favorite and underdog, and also projects what the expected margin of victory will be by the favorite.
The CHP industry has its own “spread” tool, called a Spark Spread estimator, which was developed to help CHP users conduct a very preliminary initial screening of potential CHP cost savings. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the “spark spread” is a common metric for estimating the profitability of natural gas-fired electric generators. The spark spread is the difference between the price received by a generator for electricity produced and the cost of the natural gas needed to produce that electricity.
The Spark Spread Estimator is yet another example of how many resources that are available to stakeholders seeking insight and information on CHP.
To explore the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Spark Spread Estimator tool, click on the link below.
