Focus Innovations
This article is over 3 years old
New solutions for low-temperature district heating and cooling
A report by IRENA about new generation of renewable energy systems
Heating accounts for more than 50% of global energy use and mostly comes from fossil fuels, yet we know that reducing emissions is crucial to lower air pollution and reverse climate change.
Renewable energy sources are the solution to this problem and thanks to technological innovation, digitalisation and continued improvements in the energy efficiency of buildings, IRENA and the University of Aalborg are convinced that low-temperature district heating and cooling could play a key role in the global race to decarbonisation.
Renewable sources for these energy systems can be found in several regions. In fact, the study published by the two institutions shows that 25% of Europe’s population lives in areas that are good candidates for geothermal district heating, but the resource is not exploited because it is not compatible with the building stock’s current energy infrastructure.
And yet, district heating could contribute significantly to decarbonising energy systems, as demonstrated by China’s Sinopec Green Energy, which connected a surface area of 60 million square metres to geothermal district heating systems, saving close to 13 million tonnes of CO2 over the past decade.
The report published by IRENA in collaboration with Denmark’s Aalborg University highlights the crucial role of renewable energy in low temperature district heating and cooling. It is broken up into two sections: the first gives an overview of the current scenario in the heating and cooling industry; the second illustrates guidelines for taking political actions to develop low-temperature energy systems.
As explained in the document, using these sources is not as easy as it may seem for several reasons, including lack of data on the topic, not enough knowledge and awareness about the best technologies available out there, a disconnect between building renovation strategies and the energy systems at issue, unequal competition from fossil fuel or electric cooling systems, high initial costs, city budget constraints, inadequate regulatory procedures, and long authorisation time frames.
To overcome the barriers to the integration of renewable energies into low-temperature systems, IRENA and Aalborg University provide a clear list of actions to take as a general guidance:
-develop strategic heating and cooling plans based on clear political drivers and identify relevant stakeholders;
-expand on technical scenarios on the basis of heating and/or cooling demand and map out the resources;
-integrate change of supply, network upgrades and building renovations;
-promote use of locally-available renewable energies for heating and cooling;
-establish favourable regulatory conditions, support funding and business models.
“Development of district heating and cooling systems, particularly those that are compatible with low-temperature renewable energy resources, is one way to integrate more renewables in the heating and cooling sector. However, this requires a collaborative effort from all relevant stakeholders, to address the inherent challenges”, said Gurbuz Gonul, Director of Country Engagement and Partnerships at IRENA. "If action is taken, renewables can constitute up to 77% of the energy supplied to district heating energy systems by 2050, up from only 8% in 2017".
Integrating renewables into existing power systems would entail high initial costs due to the works needed on the building stock. However, this condition could prove to be a favourable one for those wanting to invest capital for long-term profit, without immediate results.
What comes through clearly from IRENA and Aalborg University’s analysis, which highlights problems and advantages of new-generation district heating and cooling systems, is the environmental value of geothermal energy for heating and cooling systems. This value is all the more important for the achievement of global climate goals.
Renewable energy sources are the solution to this problem and thanks to technological innovation, digitalisation and continued improvements in the energy efficiency of buildings, IRENA and the University of Aalborg are convinced that low-temperature district heating and cooling could play a key role in the global race to decarbonisation.
Renewable sources for these energy systems can be found in several regions. In fact, the study published by the two institutions shows that 25% of Europe’s population lives in areas that are good candidates for geothermal district heating, but the resource is not exploited because it is not compatible with the building stock’s current energy infrastructure.
And yet, district heating could contribute significantly to decarbonising energy systems, as demonstrated by China’s Sinopec Green Energy, which connected a surface area of 60 million square metres to geothermal district heating systems, saving close to 13 million tonnes of CO2 over the past decade.
The report published by IRENA in collaboration with Denmark’s Aalborg University highlights the crucial role of renewable energy in low temperature district heating and cooling. It is broken up into two sections: the first gives an overview of the current scenario in the heating and cooling industry; the second illustrates guidelines for taking political actions to develop low-temperature energy systems.
As explained in the document, using these sources is not as easy as it may seem for several reasons, including lack of data on the topic, not enough knowledge and awareness about the best technologies available out there, a disconnect between building renovation strategies and the energy systems at issue, unequal competition from fossil fuel or electric cooling systems, high initial costs, city budget constraints, inadequate regulatory procedures, and long authorisation time frames.
To overcome the barriers to the integration of renewable energies into low-temperature systems, IRENA and Aalborg University provide a clear list of actions to take as a general guidance:
-develop strategic heating and cooling plans based on clear political drivers and identify relevant stakeholders;
-expand on technical scenarios on the basis of heating and/or cooling demand and map out the resources;
-integrate change of supply, network upgrades and building renovations;
-promote use of locally-available renewable energies for heating and cooling;
-establish favourable regulatory conditions, support funding and business models.
“Development of district heating and cooling systems, particularly those that are compatible with low-temperature renewable energy resources, is one way to integrate more renewables in the heating and cooling sector. However, this requires a collaborative effort from all relevant stakeholders, to address the inherent challenges”, said Gurbuz Gonul, Director of Country Engagement and Partnerships at IRENA. "If action is taken, renewables can constitute up to 77% of the energy supplied to district heating energy systems by 2050, up from only 8% in 2017".
Integrating renewables into existing power systems would entail high initial costs due to the works needed on the building stock. However, this condition could prove to be a favourable one for those wanting to invest capital for long-term profit, without immediate results.
What comes through clearly from IRENA and Aalborg University’s analysis, which highlights problems and advantages of new-generation district heating and cooling systems, is the environmental value of geothermal energy for heating and cooling systems. This value is all the more important for the achievement of global climate goals.
