Challenges

The established forms of heat supply, conventional large district heating networks on the one hand and individual heating systems on the other, have limited potential for decarbonisation. Existing high-temperature district heating systems are already at or near maximum capacity and still rely heavily on fossil fuels. They also require high heat density and are therefore not suitable for urban and suburban areas with medium to lower densities.

Decarbonising individual heating systems in these settlement structures is also restricted, mainly by space requirements (e.g., for air heat pumps, geothermal probes, or PV installations) and by economic drawbacks from missing economies of scale.

Local heating and cooling solutions can bridge this gap: we call them neighbourhood heating and cooling (H&C) networks!

Why heating and cooling networks?

Definition: Neighbourhood heating and cooling (H&C) networks are low temperature or anergy (cold water) grids for more than one building, primarily supplied by locally available renewable energy sources, such as near-surface geothermal energy (up to 300m), groundwater, solar thermal energy, waste heat, PV systems or ambient energy, usually applying heat pump technologies. Depending on source and dissipation system the network can also be used for cooling purposes.

1. Neighbourhood solutions are generally more cost-effective thanks to economies of scale in heat pumps, drilling, and central systems, even if network costs must be added.
2. They balance space limits by sharing heating centres, geothermal probes, or PV installations across properties.
3. They can provide efficient, low-cost cooling using geothermal energy or groundwater with suitable low-temperature systems.
4. They accelerate decarbonisation by creating momentum and enabling faster, collective investment decisions.