District energy is a central infrastructure for distributing heating and cooling to buildings in cities. It can utilize all kinds of energy sources – fossil or renewable. It can even utilize surplus heat from power production and industrial processes. Today, 60% of the energy produced in the world’s power plants is wasted, contributing to our current climate challenges. This waste can be avoided through district heating.
Besides saving huge amounts of CO2, district energy is also easy and comfortable for end-users as they don’t have to do anything themselves and their energy costs are low and stable.
Taking all this into consideration, it can seem strange that district energy is not used to a greater extent worldwide. In my opinion, there are both financial, mental and political barriers to overcome.
Integrating district energy in city development
Implementing district energy in a city is a huge up-front investment as a lot of pipes need to be laid underground. However, the investment will be reduced considerably if the implementation is integrated with the development or renovation of the city’s infrastructure alongside water and sewage systems.
Optimizing old district heating systems
In Eastern Europe and China, where district heating has been widespread for many years, they have had bad experiences with old unreliable systems which have made them sceptical towards district heating. Of course these systems need to be renovated to turn this perception around. For example in Beijing, Danfoss has taken part in optimizing some existing systems, resulting in comfortable, stable room temperatures and 15% less consumption of thermal energy.
Encouraging cities to go for district energy
In the EU, energy directives already specify that all cities must consider district energy, which is an important step in the right direction. However, as district energy does not pay off within a political election period, it will in many cases also require a long-term decision and commitment at national level. In Denmark, such a decision was taken 20-30 years ago and today the country is among the most energy-efficient countries in the world.
I think we have an important mission in better exploiting the huge potential of district energy worldwide. How could this be done?