Representatives from both projects met recently in Lund, Sweden to discuss a basis for further collaboration – to offer technical, social and political tools focusing on district heating and cooling initiatives and replicable smart city renovation.
There is certainly cause for collaboration: three-quarters of EU homes are considered inefficient and smart renovation a potential source for cutting up to 40% of our energy consumption. While across the region, enough waste heat is produced to warm the bloc’s entire building stock – but not the distribution network in place to link where is needed to where it is produced. Boosting the average 13% market share for District Heating and Cooling (DHC) technology is key Europe’s sustainable energy plans.
Speaking of closer ties between the two projects, Helena Nordström of Göteborg Energie said “Intelligent, liveable and efficient cities are what both our projects are designed to help others achieve. Looking to CITyFiED’s expertise on integrating deep renovation, renewable energies, smart grids and even interfaces with ICT and mobility issues is a highly complementary step to our work”.
“The CELSIUS project and cities give a great insight into how effective DHC can be in addressing the wasted opportunities to be more resource efficient” said Dr Ali Vasallo, CITyFiED coordinator. “We have seen how effective DHC is in our own demonstration sites, with all of them incorporating it as part of an overall target to avoid at least 13,000 tons of CO2 emissions. Learning more from Cologne, Goteborg, London and others is a great opportunity for all the cities associated to CITyFiED, especially for those who want to go into more detail on DHC solutions in particular”.
A first opportunity to witness the rich case studies, insights and technical expertise of the projects will be two joint webinars focused on resources and concrete DHC case studies to be held Tuesday November 24 and Wednesday December 9 at 10:30 (CET).
Follow the project developments on Twitter: