Low grade energy streams are available in large quantities and end up as loss in the energy consumption in the United States. For sustainability and security of the energy future, various research efforts are under way to harness this low grade energy. This paper provides a review of low grade energy resources available in industry, and applications where that can be used. Then, an underdeveloped research area is identified in the integration of the low grade energy in process systems. Some of these areas include the use of low grade solar energy or flare systems, and applications include desalination, district heating, refrigeration, etc. A few applications related to saline agriculture are also identified. This work provides a basis where the recovery of low grade energy sources and subsequent integration can provide potential cost savings, environmental benefits and social impacts. The paper also concludes that further research is needed at the systems level for including sustainability considerations in the low grade energy integration of processes.

低等级能源流可大量获得，最终导致美国能源消耗的损失。为了实现能源未来的可持续性和安全性，正在进行各种研究工作以利用这种低品位能源。本文概述了工业中可用的低品位能源，以及可以使用的应用。然后，在将低等级能源集成到过程系统中时，确定了一个欠发达的研究领域。这些领域中的一些领域包括使用低级太阳能或火炬系统，应用领域包括脱盐，区域供热，制冷等。还确定了一些与盐碱农业有关的应用。这项工作为低品位能源的回收和后续整合提供了潜在的成本节约基础，环境效益和社会影响。本文还得出结论，需要在系统级别进行进一步研究，以将可持续性考虑因素纳入流程的低等级能源集成中。