APUEA Magazine | No.8 / October 2020
District Heating and Cooling Contribution in Climate Change and Circular Economy By Muhammad Ali, Project Manager- District Heating and Cooling at ENGIE Services Australia and APUEA Australasia Advisor
DISTRICT HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEMS ARE BECOMING A STRATEGIC COMPANION IN ACHIEVING HIGHER EFFICIENCY AND A TRANSITION TO NET-ZERO CARBON. THESE SYSTEMS CAN HELP THE ENVIRONMENT BY INCREASING ENERGY EFFICIENCY, INTEGRATING RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES AND REDUCING ENVIRONMENTAL EMISSIONS (CO2 EMISSIONS, OZONE-DEPLETING REFRIGERANTS AND AIR POLLUTION).
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Urban growth is driving land-use change in Australia and this trend is expected to continue and escalate. Current projections suggest that 74% of Australians will live in capital cities by 2061[1]. The huge suburban sprawls around CBD areas of major cities are a major contributor to increasing energy demands. The built environment energy consumed by accounts for nearly 25% of total emissions in Australia (Campey et al, space air conditioning 2017). 41% of all energy used in the residential sector is consumed by in Australia space air conditioning (DEWHA, 2008) and 39% in commercial building environments (DCCEE, 2013), making space air conditioning the single largest energy user, accounting for approximately 40% of all energy use in residential and commercial buildings. Adding domestic hot water usage to the equation increases the need for energy even further. Similar growth trends in urbanisation are putting tremendous pressure on infrastructure, air and water quality on cities around the world. District Heating and Cooling (DHC) is a resource efficient technology and delivers great value by providing sustainable heating and cooling with comparatively less energy consumption and, in turn, creates significant positive environmental impacts by reducing CO2 emissions and pollution. District Energy in Cities, a program by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has identified the following key benefits and objectives for 45 champion cities that the deployment of district energy can achieve: References: [1] ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) (2015a). Australian demographic statistics, Jun 2015, cat. no. 3101.0, ABS, Canberra.
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