Introduction
In 2015, United Nations Environmental Program released the publication, “District Energy in Cities: Unlocking the Full Potential of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy”. The report stated that:
- Cities account for over 70 percent of global energy use and 40 to 50 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
- Half of cities’ energy consumption is for heating and cooling.
The above figures show that comfort cooling is a major consumer of electricity and is also responsible for a high percentage of greenhouse gas emissions in the urban environment. The same publication advocates for the adoption of district cooling as a sustainable energy solution for the modern city.
District cooling is the generation and distribution of cooling energy in the form of chilled water from a central chiller plant to multiple end-user buildings for the purpose of comfort cooling or process cooling. The chilled water produced at the central chiller plant is distributed to the consumers via a network of chilled water distribution piping.
District cooling systems achieve economy of scale by aggregating the cooling loads from a large user base into a central chiller plant. The large cooling demand seen by the district cooling system allows the adoption of energy-efficient technology such as industrial grade high-efficiency chillers, series-connected chiller modules, thermal energy storage, and cogeneration.
District cooling systems are often structured as energy utilities which provide cooling energy as a service. As a modern, cost-effective, and energy-efficient cooling energy solution, district cooling delivers numerous benefits to its multiple stakeholders.
