Ecoheatcool project was launched at the beginning of 2005 with support from the Intelligent Energy Europe programme. The project carried out by Euroheat & Power, in cooperation with 13 partners across Europe was concluded at the end of December 2006. The project assessed the

heating A central heating system provides warmth to a number of spaces within a building from one main source of heat. It is a component of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (short: HVAC) systems, which can both cool and warm interior spaces. ...

and

cooling Cooling is removal of heat, usually resulting in a lower temperature and/or phase change. Temperature lowering achieved by any other means may also be called cooling.ASHRAE Terminology, https://www.ashrae.org/technical-resources/free-resources/as ...

markets, looked for possibilities for more

district heating District heating (also known as heat networks or teleheating) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating a ...

and

district cooling District cooling is the cooling equivalent of district heating. Working on broadly similar principles to district heating, district cooling delivers chilled water to buildings like offices and factories needing cooling. In winter, the source for t ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, provided recommendations for

policy makers Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organ ...

and developed a tool for assessing the efficiency of district heating and cooling systems. The project showed that district heating and cooling grids make it possible to optimally use and combine a large spectrum of "free" energy inputs: surplus heat from

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

production based on conventional or

renewable fuels Renewable Fuels are fuels produced from renewable resources. Examples include: biofuels (e.g. Vegetable oil used as fuel, ethanol, methanol from clean energy and carbon dioxide or biomass, and biodiesel) and Hydrogen fuel (when produced with ren ...

, from

waste incineration Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of substances contained in waste materials. Industrial plants for waste incineration are commonly referred to as waste-to-energy facilities. Incineration and other high ...

and/or from industrial processes as well as different forms of renewable heat (i.e. geothermal, heat/cold from deep-sea or lake water). The Ecoheatcool project became a reference for

and cooling sector, its findings being used in the arguments provided to

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and national policy makers. It enabled the development of a vision, quantification of the benefits which the district heating and cooling sector can bring to achieving the EU policy objectives:

energy efficiency Energy efficiency may refer to: * Energy efficiency (physics), the ratio between the useful output and input of an energy conversion process ** Electrical efficiency, useful power output per electrical power consumed ** Mechanical efficiency, a ra ...

, environmental protection, security of supply, use of

renewable energy sources Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

, avoided investments in peak electricity capacities, and evaluation of the costs.

External links

Ecoheatcool website

References

{{Reflist Energy conservation