Thermal Suite Guide
Technoeconomic Analysis for Heating, Cooling & Hot Water Systems
A unified framework for evaluating boilers, hot water heaters, chillers, and cooling towers — using the same financial assumptions, the same 8,760-hour weather and tariff data, and the same simulation engine across the entire thermal stack.
Technology Overview
Thermal systems — boilers, domestic hot water heaters, chillers, and cooling towers — often get evaluated in isolation, with different vendors using different financial assumptions, different weather years, and different operating profiles. The result is decisions that look right on each spec sheet but produce inconsistent total-cost outcomes once installed.
A unified technoeconomic analysis (TEA) approach uses the same hourly weather, the same utility tariff structure, the same financial parameters (discount rate, study period, escalation), and the same simulation engine for every piece of thermal equipment. That makes the lifecycle cost comparisons honest — across fuel types, across efficiency tiers, and across manufacturers.
The CogenS™ Thermal Systems Suite covers all four module types in one platform and shares its 340+ city database, 30+ reference load profiles, and 40+ currency financial conversion across all of them. This guide explains how to use that shared foundation to make consistent thermal-equipment decisions.
Module Specs at a Glance
Modules in the Suite
Boiler, Hot Water Heater (DHW), Chiller, Cooling Tower. Each runs an independent 8,760-hour simulation but shares the project's site and financial assumptions.
Shared Databases
TMY weather (340+ cities), multi-tier utility tariffs (electric, gas, oil, water), 30+ reference building load profiles, vendor equipment catalogs.
Multi-Vendor Comparison
Side-by-side standardized metrics — NPV, IRR, payback, energy cost, lifecycle CO₂ — with consistent assumptions across all vendors.
Currency & Locale
Financial outputs auto-convert to 40+ currencies. Use Imperial (IP) or Metric (SI) units interchangeably.
Optional Add-Ons
Boiler module supports thermal energy storage (TES) co-dispatch and indirect water heater (IHWH) integration. RateAcuity live tariffs available across all modules.
Output
Print-ready TEA report per module + cross-module financial summary when modules share a project.
How to Design a Project
A high-level workflow that mirrors how the CogenS™ platform structures the analysis end-to-end.
Define the site and load profiles once
Pick a city, building type, and study period at the project level. Every module that runs in the project inherits the same weather, tariffs, financial parameters, and currency. This is the foundation of consistent comparison.
Decide which loads each module covers
Most buildings need three thermal services: heating, cooling, and DHW. Decide whether DHW comes from a boiler-fed IHWH, a dedicated DHW heater, or a heat-pump water heater. Decide whether cooling comes from a chiller, an absorption chiller fed by waste heat, or both.
Run each module's 8,760-hour simulation
The boiler simulation produces fuel use and thermal output. The DHW simulation produces electric or gas use against the DHW load profile. The chiller simulation produces electric input against the cooling load. The cooling tower simulation produces fan/pump electric use and water consumption.
Compare vendors within each module
Run multiple manufacturer models per module. The platform produces a comparison table with standardized metrics across the same load profile and tariff. Don't optimize for CAPEX in isolation — high-efficiency equipment often wins on TCO at typical discount rates.
Roll up to a project-level financial picture
Combine the module-level CAPEX, O&M, and energy costs into a single project NPV/IRR/payback. Sensitivity-test against fuel price escalation and load growth. The print-ready report includes per-module breakdowns plus the project rollup.
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