| Summary |
The district heating market faces two strong challenges: Increasing
energy efficiency of buildings decreases the heat demand of the customers
and therefore heat distribution will in turn get more costly and less
efficient. Furthermore, customers in new areas also wish to increasingly
use their own heat sources based on renewable energy such as solar energy
or heat pumps, which accentuates the difference between summer and winter
loads.
This project deals with these problems by indicating strategies for the operation
of district heating systems in co-function with individually or network connected
sources of renewable energy. Furthermore, the project will investigate the lower
economical, technical and environmental limits of district heating applications
compared to individual or local heating supplies.
|
| Objectives/goals |
The objective of the project is to develop strategies for securing
and widening the district heating market by offering district heating
to housing areas with increasingly improved energy efficiencies and
use of renewable energy sources as well as to new areas with heat
line densities, which so far were not considered to result in economic
district heating supply. The project will therefore also evaluate
the border line between new district heating and individual building
heating schemes and propose design criteria for new exploration areas.
|
| Target audience |
Authorities, constructors and consumers are particularly interesting
as the connection of new single family houses in district heating schemes
is currently receiving attention in many EU countries as a possible
way of helping to achieve the Government's proposal for all new homes
to have lower carbon emissions. A number of the major housing developers
are actively investigating the DH route as an alternative to individual
building integrated solutions.
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| Work progress |
Start: the middle of 2008
Estimated date of conclusion: May 2010
|
Contractors &
subcontractors |
- VTT, Technical Research Centre of Finland/ Energy Systems
- ZW Energiteknik
AB
- Benny Boehm Energiteknik
- BE, Building Research
Establishment Limited
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