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Environmental impacts of the infrastructure for district heating in urban neighbourhoods

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  • Oliver-Solà, Jordi
  • Gabarrell, Xavier
  • Rieradevall, Joan

Abstract

District heating is a technology for distributing centrally produced heat for space heating and sanitary hot-water generation for residential and commercial uses. The objectives are to identify which subsystems and components of a district heating grid are the main contributors to the overall impact of the infrastructure; and provide environmentally oriented design strategies for the future eco-redesign of these kinds of infrastructures. This paper performs a life-cycle assessment (LCA) to determine the environmental impacts of a district heating infrastructure in an urban neighbourhood context. The analysis covers seven subsystems (power plant, main grid, auxiliary components of the main grid, trench works, service pipes, buildings and dwellings) and twelve standard components. The results for the subsystems show that the sources of impact are not particularly located in the main grid (less than 7.1% contribution in all impact categories), which is the focus of attention in the literature, but in the power plants and dwelling components. These two subsystems together contribute from 40% to 92% to the overall impact depending on the impact categories. Concerning the components, only a reduced number are responsible for the majority of the environmental impact. This facilitates identifying effective strategies for the redesign of the infrastructure.

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  • Oliver-Solà, Jordi & Gabarrell, Xavier & Rieradevall, Joan, 2009. "Environmental impacts of the infrastructure for district heating in urban neighbourhoods," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4711-4719, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:37:y:2009:i:11:p:4711-4719
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    2. Camille Jeandaux & Jean-Baptiste Videau & Anne Prieur-Vernat, 2021. "Life Cycle Assessment of District Heating Systems in Europe: Case Study and Recommendations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-32, October.
    3. Farreny, R. & Gabarrell, X. & Rieradevall, J., 2011. "Cost-efficiency of rainwater harvesting strategies in dense Mediterranean neighbourhoods," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 55(7), pages 686-694.
    4. Wang, Bing & Kocaoglu, Dundar F. & Daim, Tugrul U. & Yang, Jiting, 2010. "A decision model for energy resource selection in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 7130-7141, November.
    5. Colmenar-Santos, Antonio & Rosales-Asensio, Enrique & Borge-Diez, David & Collado-Fernández, Eduardo, 2016. "Evaluation of the cost of using power plant reject heat in low-temperature district heating and cooling networks," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 892-907.
    6. Björnebo, Lars & Spatari, Sabrina & Gurian, Patrick L., 2018. "A greenhouse gas abatement framework for investment in district heating," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 1095-1105.
    7. Mahaut Vauchez & Jacopo Famiglietti & Kevin Autelitano & Morgane Colombert & Rossano Scoccia & Mario Motta, 2023. "Life Cycle Assessment of District Heating Infrastructures: A Comparison of Pipe Typologies in France," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-23, May.
    8. Wang, Haichao & Duanmu, Lin & Lahdelma, Risto & Li, Xiangli, 2017. "Developing a multicriteria decision support framework for CHP based combined district heating systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 345-368.
    9. Martinopoulos, Georgios & Papakostas, Konstantinos T. & Papadopoulos, Agis M., 2018. "A comparative review of heating systems in EU countries, based on efficiency and fuel cost," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 687-699.
    10. Tongpool, Rungnapa & Jirajariyavech, Athiwatr & Yuvaniyama, Chantana & Mungcharoen, Thumrongrut, 2010. "Analysis of steel production in Thailand: Environmental impacts and solutions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 4192-4200.
    11. Bartolozzi, Irene & Rizzi, Francesco & Frey, Marco, 2017. "Are district heating systems and renewable energy sources always an environmental win-win solution? A life cycle assessment case study in Tuscany, Italy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 408-420.

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