The traditional energy cycle in the United States and most other developed countries is the combustion of scarce fossil fuels to generate electricity to power air conditioners and dehumidifiers, ventilation systems, lighting, and a wide variety of household, commercial, and industrial appliances.
Further losses occur in electrical power generation and transmission.
Consequently it can be used as the input power for heat actuated air conditioners and dehumidifiers, to generate steam for space heating, or to provide hot water for building laundry, kitchen, or cleaning services. Making use of what is normally waste heat through combined services meets the same building electrical and thermal loads with lower input of fossil fuels yielding very high resource efficiencies.