The role of district heating in the climate-neutral city

It has been shown in various studies that district-related measures, including district heating, will be a key element in achieving a climate-neutral built environment. At present, though, robust measures are not yet sufficiently attractive economically, whether they be building-related or district-related. In certain segments of the existing building stock, district-related measures can be applied to achieve the desired energy neutrality at substantially lower cost than by investing solely in building-related measures. The main barrier to implementing such district-related measures is the absence of a level playing field and the existence of split incentives for building owners, users and suppliers. There are various options for encouraging investments in district-related measures, through dedicated legislation and changes to pertinent rules and regulations, for example.  
 

This report discusses and analyses these issues, in a quest for a least-cost route to securing the policy objective laid down in the ‘SER agreement’.