District Energy In Cities

This publication provides best practice guidance for cities and national governments to implement sustainable heating and cooling through four chapters on technology, local policy, business models and national policies and regulations, and a fifth chapter describing a methodology for cities to develop modern district energy. The publication is based on interviews, surveys and consultations with nearly 150 respondents from 65 cities around the world in order to gather expert and local stakeholder perspectives.

This report identifies modern district energy as the most effective approach for many cities to transition to sustainable heating and cooling, by improving energy efficiency and enabling higher shares of renewables. This publication is one of the first reports to provide concrete policy, finance and technology best-practice recommendations on addressing the heating and cooling sectors in cities through energy efficiency improvements and the integration of renewables, both of which are central to the energy transition. These recommendations have been developed in collaboration with 45 champion cities, all of which use district energy, with 11 of them using it to achieve 100 per cent renewables or carbon-neutral targets.

Used historically in urban areas but now mainly in institutions, district heating and cooling systemsâ€"efficient centralized energy systems that may use energy sources other than petroleumâ€"have gained renewed interest. This volume is a nontechnical examination of the history and current extent of district heating and cooling systems in the United States, their costs and benefits, technical requirements, market demand for them, and European experience with such systems, with major focus on the problems of financing, regulation, and taxation. Appendixes provide case studies of cities and towns currently using district heating and cooling systems.

This book evaluates the potential of the combined use of district heating networks and cogeneration in the European Union (EU). It also proposes measures to remove barriers hindering their widespread implementation, formulates policies for their implementation, and evaluates their economic, energy, and environmental consequences. The book presents a preliminary assessment of the likely cost and the impact of widespread adoption of district heating networks and cogeneration carried out in three cities that represent the variety of climatic conditions in the EU. Based on this assessment, it is estimated that by undertaking the maximum economically feasible implementation across the EU, fuel savings of €95M/year would be achieved, representing energy savings of 6,400 petajoules (PJ), which is around 15% of the total final energy consumption in the EU in 2013 (46,214.5 PJ). Using simple and quick calculations and not specific software, the method used allows the evaluation of the potential benefits of retrofitting existing power plants into cogeneration plants and connecting them to nearby heating networks. In light of increasing energy costs and environmental concerns, the book is of interest to heating engineers, city planners, and policy-makers around the globe.

This study reviews the history and development of district heating and district cooling, together referred to as district energy in North America, Western Europe, Asia, Eastern and Central Europe, and the Former Soviet Union (FSU). Experience from other parts of the world where DH systems exist could be beneficial to DH industry managers and regulators in Eastern and Central Europe and FSU countries in modernizing their management systems and improving their policies and practices to allow for the attraction of capital that is urgently needed. The report reviews, in a systematic manner, the key institutional, economic, financial, technical, and environmental issues in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe and the FSU with the goal of arriving at operationally relevant issues and defining the awareness and understanding of the nature of activities which can lead to increasing energy efficiency and the attractiveness of district energy to private financing.

With an increase of global energy demand arising in urban settlements, the key challenges for the urban energy transition include analysis of energy efficiency options and the potential of renewable energy systems within the existing building stock, making cities a key actor in the transition success. In Urban Energy Systems for Low Carbon Cities, indicators to evaluate urban energy performance are introduced and the status quo of monitoring and efficiency valuation schemes are discussed. The book discusses advances on the state-of-the-art of research in a number of key areas: Energy demand and consumption mapping and monitoring Optimization of design and operation of urban supply and distribution systems Integration of renewable energy and urban energy network models Demand side management strategies to better match renewable supply and demand and increase flexibilities With innovative modelling methods this book gives a real bottom-up modelling approach used for the simulation of energy consumption, energy conversion systems and distribution networks using engineering methods. Provides support and guidance on the energy transition issues relating to energy demand, consumption mapping and monitoring Includes examples from case study cities, including Vienna, Geneva, New York and Stuttgart Analyzes the potential of energy management strategies in urban areas

District heating and cooling (DHC) combined with renewable energy sources can help meet rising urban energy needs, improve efficiency, reduce emissions and improve local air quality. Although currently dominated by fossil fuels such as coal and gas, DHC systems can be upgraded, or new networks created, to use solid biofuel, solar and geothermal energy technologies. Depending on local conditions, renewable-based DHC brings a range of benefits, including increased energy security, improved health and reduced climate impact.To date, only a few countries have taken advantage of their renewable resource potential for DHC or created policies to promote further uptake. Sweden and Switzerland have started promoting renewable-based district heating,while Denmark - with ambitious decarbonisation policies -already uses high shares. Many cities and regions envisage a growing role for district in their energy plans; some are also looking increasingly at district cooling.As this REmap sector study from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) shows, renewables could feasibly supply more than one fifth of the energy needed for DHC worldwide. But to drive the transition, policy makers need to fully understand the costs, bene¿ts and actual potential for renewable-based DHC.

Conventional thermal power generating plants reject a large amount of energy every year. If this rejected heat were to be used through district heating networks, given prior energy valorisation, there would be a noticeable decrease in the amount of fossil fuels imported for heating. As a consequence, benefits would be experienced in the form of an increase in energy efficiency, an improvement in energy security, and a minimisation of emitted greenhouse gases. Given that heat demand is not expected to decrease significantly in the medium term, district heating networks show the greatest potential for the development of cogeneration. Due to their cost competitiveness, flexibility in terms of the ability to use renewable energy resources (such as geothermal or solar thermal) and fossil fuels (more specifically the residual heat from combustion), and the fact that, in some cases, losses to a country/region’s energy balance can be easily integrated into district heating networks (which would not be the case in a “fully electric” future), district heating (and cooling) networks and cogeneration could become a key element for a future with greater energy security, while being more sustainable, if appropriate measures were implemented. This book therefore seeks to propose an energy strategy for a number of cities/regions/countries by proposing appropriate measures supported by detailed case studies.