f you are making a large capital investment in cogeneration, you should work with an established organization with a successful local track record. Aegis has been successfully providing combined heat and power solutions for our customers for many years. Our success is due to:
1. Effective Interface Design. One of our greatest strengths is our ability to design the most optimal cogeneration interface with the building systems so you get the most out of the equipment and maximize energy savings. Our engineers have over 100 years of combined experience designing these interfaces.
2. Demonstrable Maintenance Service Record. We maintain and operate all the systems we install. Every Aegis site is saving money. Because we are cyberlinked to the system, in the event of a problem, we can often troubleshoot and fix problems right away without a service call. However, if a site visit is necessary, our technicians provide same day/next day service and are on call for weekend emergency service. To maximize your savings choose a company with a proven track record maintaining the specific type of cogeneration system recommended for your building.
3. Quantifiable Maintenance Plan Plus. Aegis Energy's bumper-to-bumper maintenance package covers all scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, parts and labor at a single rate based on system run hours -- one cost for all the work. Our comprehensive plan has no hidden costs. As part of our service, our analysts will review your energy bills and quantify your energy savings from cogeneration.
4. Made in the USA. All our cogeneration equipment is made in the US. We inventory parts so that replacement parts are immediately available as needed.

Cogeneration has been widely accepted and used for almost 100 years. Large industrial customers produced power and heat on a decentralized basis in the early 1900s because electrical distribution systems were not readily available and electricity from utilities was very expensive. As utilities expanded their distribution systems, fewer industrial customers used cogeneration. However, because of low natural gas prices in the 1980s, CHP became a very attractive alternative to nuclear and conventional power plant construction and grew at a rapid rate. Today, we have 6-7 times more electricity generated by CHP than in 1980.

Conventional power plants burn fossil fuel to produce steam. The pressure of the steam is then used to drive a turbine to create electricity. This process is inefficient -- only one-third of the fossil fuel is converted to electricity; two-thirds of the fuel goes up the smokestack and into the harbors as heat. Further inefficiencies (transmission and distribution losses) occur to deliver the electricity to your business. CHP is 2-3 times more efficient than conventional power plants. CHP uses the heat in the form of hot water or steam normally wasted in power plants for building comfort space heating, domestic hot water heating, pool and spa heating, absorption cooling, and industrial processes. In addition, since power is produced right where it is needed, cogeneration systems do not suffer transmission and distribution losses associated with electric utilities.

One of the benefits of CHP systems is that they are more environmentally friendly than conventional power plants. There are two reasons for this. First, since CHP systems are very efficient, they produce more useful energy and send less energy into the atmosphere versus conventional power plants for the same amount of fossil fuel burned. Second, because they are usually located near populated areas, they tend to have more stringent environmental conditions placed on them than conventional power plants. Installing a CHP system will result in energy savings and reduction of carbon and greenhouse gas emissions.