Carnot method

The Carnot method is an allocation procedure for dividing up fuel input (primary energy, end energy) in joint production processes that generate two or more energy products in one process (e.g. cogeneration or trigeneration). It is also suited to allocate other streams such as CO2-emissions or variable costs. The potential to provide physical work (exergy) is used as the distribution key. For heat this potential can be assessed the Carnot efficiency. Thus, the Carnot method is a form of an exergetic allocation method. It uses mean heat grid temperatures at the output of the process as a calculation basis. The Carnot method's advantage is that no external reference values are required to allocate the input to the different output streams; only endogenous process parameters are needed. Thus, the allocation results remain unbiased of assumptions or external reference values that are open for discussion.