Half of the energy consumed in Europe is used for heating and cooling, and 75% of this energy is still coming from fossil fuels. Additionally, much of this energy is wasted due to inefficiencies in the heating and cooling systems. State-of-the-art, sustainable district heating and cooling systems offer a unique opportunity to make significant contributions to decarbonise EU cities through the efficient distribution of heat and cold from renewable energy sources.

District heating networks (initially centralised heat production, delivered through distribution networks) have been present in cities for more than one hundred years, evolving from the early high-temperature heat distribution (steam) networks towards more efficient lower temperature schemes that reduce heat distribution losses and enable the use of renewable energy sources, as well as the integration with the electricity grid. Also, current intelligent management systems allow for increased operational benefits and new paradigms such as decentralised networks.

District heating and cooling networks constitute a proven solution for large-scale thermal energy distribution that has been deployed in a growing number of cities worldwide, using a diversity of technologies that can enable synergies between the production and distribution of heat, cold, domestic hot water and electricity.

This initiative is part of the Heating and Cooling Focus Group, established through a collaboration between the RHC-ETIP and the Smart Cities Marketplace initiative. The RHC-ETIP is a platform that brings together stakeholders from the biomass, geothermal, solar thermal, and heat pump sectors to define a common strategy for increasing the use of renewable energy technologies for heating and cooling.

For more information, contact lj@euroheat.org.

Learn more about the RHC-ETIP project and the Smart Cities Marketplace.

Solution Booklet District Heating and Cooling