Trigeneration

Trigeneration, also called combined cooling, heat and power or CCHP, is the simultaneous production of electricity, useful heat and cooling from one fuel source or a solar heat collector. It extends ordinary cogeneration by routing the waste heat left over after generating electricity and heat into an absorption or adsorption chiller, which uses that heat to produce refrigeration rather than simply venting it. Because a conventional power station converts only about 33 to 45 percent of its fuel heat into electricity, while a cogeneration or trigeneration system that puts its waste heat to local use can reach an overall fuel utilization of up to about 80 percent, trigeneration systems can attain higher overall efficiency than either cogeneration alone or a conventional power plant. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/