Integrated Energy Systems (IES), as technology that use thermal activated components to recover waste heat, are energy systems that offer key solution to global warming and energy security through high overall energy efficiency and better fuel use. Combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) systems are IES that use recovered thermal energy from the prime mover to produce heating and cooling for the building. The CCHP operational strategy is critical and it has to be considered in a well designed system since it defines the ultimate goal for the benefits expected from the system. One of the most common operational strategies is the cost-oriented strategy, which allows the system to operate at the lowest cost. A primary energy strategy (PES) optimizes energy consumption instead of cost. However, as a result of the worldwide concern about global warming, projects that target reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have gained a lot of interest. Therefore, for a CCHP system, an emission strategy (ES) would be an operational strategy oriented to minimize emission of pollutants. In this study, the use of an ES is proposed for CCHP systems targeted to reduce emission of pollutants. The primary energy consumption (PEC) reduction and carbon dioxide (CO(2)) emission reduction obtained using the proposed ES are compared with results obtained from the use of a PES. Results show that lower emission of CO(2) is achieved with the ES when compared with the PES, which prove the advantage of the ES for the design of CCHP systems targeted to emissions reduction. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.