Description of district heating: history and current status

Conference · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1979

OSTI ID:6271905

Karnitz, M A; Olszewski, M; Anderson, T D; Rubin, A M

District heating is defined as the distribution of thermal energy from a central source for residential and commercial space and hot-water heating. The central source can be either a boiler-only unit or a cogenation power plant that produces both electricity and thermal energy. The most-significant advantage of the cogeneration plant is its greater overall energy-utilization efficiency. In addition, district-heating systems can utilize coal or nuclear fuel as an energy source and thus substitute for more-limited resources such as oil and natural gas. This could lessen our requirement for imported oil, thereby reducing an already serious political as well as economic balance of payments problem. As far as the consumer is concerned, district heating has the potential to provide thermal energy at competitive rates with reasonably long-term price stability. The potential exists to significantly increase the implementation of district heating in the U.S. compared to the present market. This is especially true in urban areas with high population densities and large space heating demands. Many European countries already have large successful not-water district-heating systems. In order for the U.S. to follow suit, it is necessary to determine the economic feasibility of district heating. This requires consideration of many factors, such as climate, thermal loads, building types, energy sources, and environmental considerations among others. A recent analysis for the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul clearly shows the economic viability of district heating for that area.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA); Department of Energy, Washington, DC (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 6271905
• Report Number(s): CONF-790401-1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290800* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Heat Utilization-- (1980-)
APPLIANCES
BOILERS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CO-GENERATION
COAL
COMPETITION
DEUS
DISTRICT HEATING
ECONOMICS
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRIC APPLIANCES
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
ENERGY SOURCES
EUROPE
EVALUATION
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL SUBSTITUTION
FUELS
GAS APPLIANCES
GREAT LAKES REGION
HEATERS
HEATING
HOT WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
IMPLEMENTATION
MINNESOTA
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FUELS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POWER GENERATION
REACTOR MATERIALS
SPACE HEATING
STEAM GENERATION
USA
VIABILITY
WATER
WATER HEATERS