RESOURCES

In addition to Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs) – The Boltzmann Institute believes that District Energy (DE) with Thermal Energy Storage (TES) and Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage (STES) are critical parts of the strategy to facilitate much of the heating and cooling of buildings, thus reducing the load on the electrical system created by the transition of these loads from fossil fuels to the electrical system in a pure ASHP solution.

Rapidly growing and effective routes for heat networks to market. This is explored by examining the city of Helsingborg, Rotterdam, Bruges, Humber, and London. The case studies highlight different approaches and involvement from various stakeholders and valuing different stages of development while understanding what’s in demand with driving forces and trends.

Case studies of Helsingborg, Sweden, Markham, Canada, and City of Stoke-on-Trent, UK are explored. These three cities are at different stages of distributed energy networks. District heating in Helsingborg is a data driven business and has been in development since 1965 with strong organic growth and customer relations. Canada and the UK are not as developed as Sweden when it comes to DE networks. Nonetheless there is an understanding of its benefits. Energy in silos cannot adapt, whereas networks provide scale.

• Who and what does it take to make district energy systems happen?
• How to mobilize stakeholders?

This presentation takes a deep dive into the UK context and trends exploring where the UK is at the moment and where their priorities are for the future. Covered topics include heat network market and decarbonisation market and its opportunities, the government focus, project economics, as well as key learnings and key stakeholder.

• Why is decarbonizing heating and cooling a top priority?
• Why are thermal networks required?
• What are the barriers to implementing thermal networks?

Case studies exploring options and strategies in the UK, Canada, Sweden. Municipal case studies touch on four municipal investment pillars of financial performance, economic development, environmental performance, and community energy resiliency. Examples include decarbonizing buildings, lower $/tCO2, and the ability to access large renewable sources. 

The highest GG emissions in Canada are coming from Transportation, Oil & Gas, and Agriculture & Waste. Further comparisons are made between GHG emission in Canada and the EU as well as the forest sector in both Canada and Austria.

5 KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. Elevate the conversation around building heat (in DE areas) from the building scale to the district scale (low carbon DE can be a key part of green buildings, zero-carbon buildings and deep green retrofits)
2. As we transition to carbon-based codes, ensure full recognition of the benefits of low carbon district energy are incorporated (address metric, boundary, hierarchy, allocation)
3. As we turn towards regulating existing buildings consider the trade-offs between building scale v district-scale measures and benefits that could be gained from looking at heat from city perspective
4. If when COVID 19 recovery measures come, be ready with a plan, and know how it stacks up (in terms of $/tonne, incremental co-benefits for DE) with other means of decarbonizing the economy
5. We need to start a serious conversation about using waste (MSW and biomass) for heat

Definition of trade: Heat sold on the basis of measurements fall under this act – Context of money exchange.
The weights and measures act governs trade measurement devices and commodities.
All trade measurement devices must be an approved design by Measurements Canada (MC) and inspected by MC before they are used in trade.
Approved meter:
– Starting now and best to contact the manufacturer
– Need to have a written contract indicating meter is not fully approved – and this has a time limit of 3 years
Heating and cooling are both subject to the requirements.

On April 17th, QUEST, the International District Energy Association and Enwave submitted a letter to The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, regarding District Energy considerations in COVID-19 economic recovery planning. The letter explained that to enable Canada’s energy transition, the deployment of district energy should be encouraged. District energy systems across Canada help municipalities become more resilient, reduce carbon emissions and generate economic stimulus.

This case study explores the background/context, initial feasibility assessment, environmental (GHG) metrics, financial model, governance model, economic impacts, and scalability/replicability of the NEU project. This includes technological information on the DE proejct at Southeast False Creek and financial metrics of the project.

This presentation outlines the Neighbourhood Energy initiative in Vancouver. This includes an analysis of historical data from the project, international research of similar NE initiatives, and strategies for expanding the project and reducing its carbon footprint. These strategies include technological, land use planning, and policy recommendations. The presentation culminates in the Energy Centre Guidelines, whose focus is on the following objectives: climate protection, air quality, neighbourhood fit, sustainability of fuel source, and community engagement.

This guide is intended for use by elected municipal officials, government energy, economic development and sustainability officials, and land-use planners, who can be project champions or sponsors. This guide will help land-use planners and project proponents, both public and private, with: energy mapping, building energy use, identifying DE opportunities, delivering financially stable energy projects, and understanding all of the stages in developing an energy project.

This document provides information to building developers and owners, architects, and engineers to design buildings that are district energy-ready (DE-ready). DE-ready is defined as having a mechanical and building design that makes a building ready to connect to a future district energy system (DES) when it becomes available.

This report compiles experience from the operation of district heating pipelines over many years. In Part A important cost factors for the operation as well as the operating costs themselves are compared. Practical help for pipeline operation is given in Part B.

This report explores various mechanisms local governments can leverage to integrate sustainable thermal energy solutions in their jurisdictions. These include political mechanisms, such as bylaws and policies, recommendations for how to get started, and five highlighted technologies, which include district heating, biomass & biogas, ground-, air- & water-source heat pumps, heat recovery, and solar energy.

The purpose of this Guide is to support the growing number of small communities across British Columbia interested in making a business case for biomass district heating. There may be substantial benefits for communities that approach local energy projects having developed an integrated strategy on clean energy, energy independence, and the transition to a green economy. The “Small-scale Biomass District Heating Guide” is written primarily for local governments and First Nations elected officials and staff to support an active local government and band role in the development of clean energy and a green economy. The scale of district heating being considered in this guide is approximately 150kW to 3MW.

This handbook is a companion piece to the “Small-Scale Biomass District Heating Guide,” which provides a high level overview of DH project elements according to developmental STAGES, from DH project conception through to utility development. This handbook provides a more detailed focus on considerations associated with each project ELEMENT.

This guide is intended for use by elected municipal officials,government energy, economic development and sustainability officials, and land-use planners, who can be project champions or sponsors. This guide will help land-use planners and project proponents, both public and private, to: understand and create or influence energy maps and other information for use in an official plan or secondary plan; gain an understanding of energy use in buildings and developments; recognize where there are opportunities for district energy projects, and understand the value of incorporating thermal energy considerations in planning efforts; translate energy opportunities into financially sustainable and deliverable projects; understand the stages of developing an energy project and who is involved in each stage.

This guide is intended to assist Municipalities in developing their local Stakeholder Engagement strategies when considering District Energy. This Guide, with Worksheets and samples of some existing stakeholder communication products from municipalities, is based on the fundamental principles for community engagement, and has been developed as a starting point for Municipalities to utilize, or adapt, when they decide to proceed with development of a District Energy strategy.

This guide reviews methods to convert existing heating systems so they can be connected to a hot water district energy system. It applies to existing buildings currently connected to a steam based DE system, or heated independently with a boiler plant. The guide does not address general aspects of building system design and installation.

A detailed report outlining guidelines for developing a district cooling system, including: the benefits and justifications for district cooling; the developmental pathway, which includes guidelines for building a business case, conducting a feasibility assessment, technical requirements for project development, construction considerations, and operations considerations; multiple energy source options; case studies of best practice examples; design recommendations; operations and maintenance recommendations; a quick cooling requirement calculation method; innovative district cooling concepts; business models; and the role of the public sector in a project.

This international research project has been focusing on identification of early and vital information about the transformation to a future fourth generation of district heating technology from previous technology generation shifts, current generation experiences, and early research attempts for this new district heating technology. Every new technology generation for district heating has been characterized by lower distribution temperatures in the thermal grids, revealing that the temperature levels in these grids are important performance indicators. This conclusion is also valid for the new fourth generation, aiming at even lower temperatures in the thermal grids.

A research report presenting the notion of a supervisory control system for smart homes to enable improved residential energy efficiency. The supervisory control system also provides the district energy supplier with data to facilitate energy consumption forecasting. The end goal of this system is to act as a catalyst for creating more efficient energy consumers by having them adopt efficient behaviour due to adapting to the system and the changes that it implements. Includes results from a prototype test of the system’s user interface in Samsoe, Denmark.

This publication is among the first to provide concrete policy,finance and technology best practice guidance on addressing the heating and cooling sectors in cities through energy efficiency improvements and the integration of renewables. The recommendations have been developed in collaboration with 45
“champion” cities, all of which use modern district energy, and 11 of which have set targets for either carbon neutrality or a 100 per cent renewable energy supply. This report is also the first to consolidate data on the multiple benefits that cities, countries and regions have achieved through the use of modern district energy,in an effort to support evidence-based policy recommendations and to raise awareness of the significance of the heating and cooling sectors, which have been insufficiently addressed in the climate and energy debate.

This project provides a framework for forecasting future technical status, maintenance needs and energy losses for DH pipelines based on knowledge about present technical status, today’s maintenance needs and estimated future operating temperatures. Theoretical calculations and information from Korea and Norway DH-pipe networks were used to demonstrate the model.

The objective of this project is to propose and to analyse measures for improving the economy of heat distribution in areas with low heat demand density. The consequent application of these measures will not only reduce distribution costs but also the environmental impact of energy use in these areas.

This report is intended to assist engineers and consultants in designing and implementing conversions of building HVAC systems to accept chilled and hot water from district energy systems. Building types that are addressed include residential, commercial, institutional and industrial. The practical guidelines provided are based on extensive conversion and operating experience. As well as highlighting the most cost effective approach to conversions, the guidelines ensure that technically sound systems are built.

This project, Annex TS1, was completed by an international consortium team led by Fraunhofer Institute for Wind and Energy System Technology Germany through the IEA-DHC technology collaboration programme. The IEA DHC Annex TS1 is a three year international research project which aims to identify holistic and innovative approaches to communal low temperature heat supply by using district heating. It is a framework that promotes the discussion of future but also existing heating networks with an international group of experts. The goal is to obtain a common development direction for the wide application of low temperature district heating systems in the near future. Background materials and cutting edge knowledge on district heating pipe systems, network designs, hygienic domestic hot water preparation in low temperature supply schemes, space heating controls and the integration of small scale decentralized heat sources is provided in the report for designers as well as decision makers in the building and district energy sector.

This project was completed by an international consortium team led by the Technical University of Denmark with funding from the IEA-DHC technology collaboration programme under research Annex X. This report describes the concept of low-temperature district heating (LTDH), collects and discusses successful examples of implementation LTDH in the building heating sector.The objective of this report is to raise awareness and provide insights that will stimulate the research, development and implementation of LTDH systems.

This project was completed by an international consortium team led by FVB Energy Inc with funding from the IEA-DHC technology collaboration programme under research Annex X. It is intended to guide evaluation of options for integrating renewables and waste heat with existing or potential district energy systems (DES), addressing economic, design and operational issues, including fundamental issues relating to operating temperatures and availability. Case studies were developed to: illustrate a range of examples of integration of renewable thermal energy and waste heat resources in DES; illuminate key design issues associated with such integration; and describe solutions to addressing these issues.

Plan4DE is a tool developed to enable planners to consider the impacts of land-use plans on the feasibility of district energy and to develop standard land-use patterns that will enable district energy. This report provides details on the tool’s development and features and examines application scenarios for its use. Plan4DE was developed by an international consortium team led by Sustainability Solutions Group (SSG) with funding from the IEA-DHC technology collaboration programme under research Annex XI.