05-06-2008 Conference 2008: District heating and cooling - A 'no regrets' policy for cities.
Climate action starts at local level. This idea is at the heart of district heating and cooling. At today’s conference Euroheat & Power announced the sector’s ambition to join forces and lead the way to Copenhagen 2009.
Energy used for heating buildings represents almost 70% of end-use demands and 40% of primary energy demands. For cooling demands it is estimated that it presently accounts for 8% of the annual electricity generation and grows rapidly. This is the order of magnitude of what is at stake when we talk about sustainable cities, eco-districts, passive houses, zero energy buildings, low or no carbon buildings.
At the same time, cities often dispose of a huge untapped potential of sustainable heat: heat which is produced as inevitable by-product of electricity production, of industrial processes, of waste management – with no or only little additional primary energy input. In many cases, there are also opportunities for using renewable energies: from geothermal and solar energy to biomass, or sea and river-water for cooling purposes.
District heating and cooling is key to making optimal use of these resources. As conference contributions show, its infrastructure enables the biggest carbon footprint reductions. Many schemes exist and many new projects are taking shape throughout Europe today, prompting us
to ask just how far our conventional energy system falls short of the mark. They show that sound economic and environmental choices are not mutually exclusive, but instead are compatible to the point of being interdependent, if focus is placed on primary energy savings in the urban system instead of final energy savings in single buildings.
Today’s conference is the first in a series of events from June 2008 to December 2009, in which the district energy sector intends to demonstrate environmental performance, explore synergies with other infrastructures, enable contacts, provide guidance and push for political engagement.
The events series will culminate in a District Energy Summit in Copenhagen on 18-19 November 2009.
Doubling sales of district heating by 2020 will reduce Europe’s:
• primary energy supply by 2.6% or 50.7 Mtoe/year
• import dependency by 105.4 Mtoe/year
• carbon dioxide emissions by 9.3% or 404 Mtoe/year
Download press release here (pdf, 1,1Mb).
Energy used for heating buildings represents almost 70% of end-use demands and 40% of primary energy demands. For cooling demands it is estimated that it presently accounts for 8% of the annual electricity generation and grows rapidly. This is the order of magnitude of what is at stake when we talk about sustainable cities, eco-districts, passive houses, zero energy buildings, low or no carbon buildings.
At the same time, cities often dispose of a huge untapped potential of sustainable heat: heat which is produced as inevitable by-product of electricity production, of industrial processes, of waste management – with no or only little additional primary energy input. In many cases, there are also opportunities for using renewable energies: from geothermal and solar energy to biomass, or sea and river-water for cooling purposes.
District heating and cooling is key to making optimal use of these resources. As conference contributions show, its infrastructure enables the biggest carbon footprint reductions. Many schemes exist and many new projects are taking shape throughout Europe today, prompting us
to ask just how far our conventional energy system falls short of the mark. They show that sound economic and environmental choices are not mutually exclusive, but instead are compatible to the point of being interdependent, if focus is placed on primary energy savings in the urban system instead of final energy savings in single buildings.
Today’s conference is the first in a series of events from June 2008 to December 2009, in which the district energy sector intends to demonstrate environmental performance, explore synergies with other infrastructures, enable contacts, provide guidance and push for political engagement.
The events series will culminate in a District Energy Summit in Copenhagen on 18-19 November 2009.
Doubling sales of district heating by 2020 will reduce Europe’s:
• primary energy supply by 2.6% or 50.7 Mtoe/year
• import dependency by 105.4 Mtoe/year
• carbon dioxide emissions by 9.3% or 404 Mtoe/year
Download press release here (pdf, 1,1Mb).
