Environmental Impact of District Heating System Retrofitting

Abstract

Retrofitting of district heating systems is a comprehensive process which covers all stages of district heating (DH) systems: production, distribution and consumption. This study quantitatively shows the effect of retrofitting measures and represents strengths and weaknesses of different development scenarios. Improvements in production units show improvements in fuel use efficiency and thus indirectly reduce CO2 emissions due to unburned fuel. For this purpose, validated district planning tools have been used. Tool uses mathematical model for calculation and evaluation of all three main components of the DH system. For the quantitative evaluation, nine efficiency and balance indicators were used. For each indicator, recommended boundary values were proposed. In total, six simulation scenarios were simulated, and the last scenario have shown significant reduction in CO2 emissions by 40% (from 3376 to 2000 t CO2 compared to the actual state), while share of biomass has reached 47%.

Energy and CO2 saving potential of district heating system

“…Although, numerous enhancement of district heating systems have been implemented in Europe [1][5] [6], studying pilot projects and case studies outside of Europe can be very beneficial [12] [13]. Results of presented study emphasizes the importance of pursuing energy retrofitting as a key strategy for energy efficiency improvement and reduction of district heating systems carbon emissions.…”

“…In order to better understand the structure of the fuel mix for district heating systems and the introduction 1239 (2023) 012019 IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1239/1/012019 2 of renewable energy sources, four indicators were selected to show how strategic documents affect energy security and GHG emissions. Retrofitting of district heating systems, covering production, distribution, and consumption stages is analyzed in [6]. It uses validated district planning tools to calculate and evaluate the district heating system components.…”