IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v278y2023ics0360544223011088.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

District heating in the future - thoughts on the business model

Author

Listed:
  • Lygnerud, Kristina
  • Popovic, Tobias
  • Schultze, Sebastian
  • Støchkel, Hanne Kortegaard

Abstract

In this study, we apply a combination of methods for understanding how business models need to change to meet changing business conditions in the future (time horizon 2050). The process of applying the value proposition canvas and the business model canvas for understanding the future business models to the case of district heating has been documented. The energy transition necessitates a combination of new and existing solutions. District heating is one existing and enabling technology. The sector is, however, facing several challenges that will impact the way that business must be conducted in the future. We provide new knowledge about the characteristics of the future district heating business model and illustrate that technical development must be accompanied by business development otherwise the competitiveness of new technology is reduced. Main results show that a high level of digitalisation, enabling customers to make choices that are efficient to the district heating system, is a key future feature. Additionally, co-creation with a small group of dedicated customers will drive the sector's ongoing development. The results from the study are replicable and of relevance to other sectors undergoing large change.

Suggested Citation

  • Lygnerud, Kristina & Popovic, Tobias & Schultze, Sebastian & Støchkel, Hanne Kortegaard, 2023. "District heating in the future - thoughts on the business model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:278:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223011088
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2023.127714
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544223011088
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2023.127714?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brange, Lisa & Englund, Jessica & Lauenburg, Patrick, 2016. "Prosumers in district heating networks – A Swedish case study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 492-500.
    2. Kristina Lygnerud, 2019. "Business Model Changes in District Heating: The Impact of the Technology Shift from the Third to the Fourth Generation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-16, May.
    3. Stefan Schaltegger & Florian Lüdeke-Freund & Erik G. Hansen, 2012. "Business cases for sustainability: the role of business model innovation for corporate sustainability," International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 6(2), pages 95-119.
    4. Werner, Sven, 2017. "International review of district heating and cooling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 617-631.
    5. Markus Eurich & Tobias Weiblen & Pablo Breitenmoser, 2014. "A six-step approach to business model innovation," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 18(4), pages 330-348.
    6. B. Demil & X. Lecocq, 2010. "Business model evolution : in search of dynamic consistency," Post-Print hal-00572915, HAL.
    7. Morandin, Matteo & Hackl, Roman & Harvey, Simon, 2014. "Economic feasibility of district heating delivery from industrial excess heat: A case study of a Swedish petrochemical cluster," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 209-220.
    8. Karolin Frankenberger & Tobias Weiblen & Michaela Csik & Oliver Gassmann, 2013. "The 4I-framework of business model innovation: a structured view on process phases and challenges," International Journal of Product Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 18(3/4), pages 249-273.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hiris, Daniel P. & Pop, Octavian G. & Dobrovicescu, Alexandru & Dudescu, Mircea C. & Balan, Mugur C., 2023. "Modelling of solar assisted district heating system with seasonal storage tank by two mathematical methods and with two climatic data as input," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    2. Bogdanovics, Raimonds & Zemitis, Jurgis & Zajacs, Aleksandrs & Borodinecs, Anatolijs, 2024. "Small-scale district heating system as heat storage for decentralized solar thermal collectors during non-heating period," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).
    3. González, Arnau & Arranz-Piera, Pol & Olives, Borja & Ivancic, Aleksandar & Pagà, Conrad & Cortina, Marc, 2023. "Thermal energy community-based multi-dimensional business model framework and critical success factors investigation in the mediterranean region of the EU," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kristina Lygnerud, 2019. "Business Model Changes in District Heating: The Impact of the Technology Shift from the Third to the Fourth Generation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-16, May.
    2. Anna M. Hansson & Eja Pedersen & Niklas P. E. Karlsson & Stefan E. B. Weisner, 2023. "Barriers and drivers for sustainable business model innovation based on a radical farmland change scenario," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(8), pages 8083-8106, August.
    3. Arash Rezazadeh & Ana Carvalho, 2018. "A value-based approach to business model innovation: Defining the elements of the concept," NIPE Working Papers 12/2018, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    4. Payam Hanafizadeh & Mohammad Mehrabioun & Kambiz Badie & Jahanyar Bamdad Soofi, 2018. "A Systemic Framework for Business Model Design and Development -Part A: Theorizing Perspective," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 31(4), pages 437-461, August.
    5. Emmanuelle Reuter, 2022. "Hybrid business models in the sharing economy: The role of business model design for managing the environmental paradox," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 603-618, February.
    6. Gerrit Remane & Andre Hanelt & Jan F. Tesch & Lutz M. Kolbe, 2017. "The Business Model Pattern Database — A Tool For Systematic Business Model Innovation," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 21(01), pages 1-61, January.
    7. Capone, Martina & Guelpa, Elisa & Verda, Vittorio, 2023. "Potential for supply temperature reduction of existing district heating substations," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    8. Ancillai, Chiara & Sabatini, Andrea & Gatti, Marco & Perna, Andrea, 2023. "Digital technology and business model innovation: A systematic literature review and future research agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    9. Luigi Fusco Girard & Marilena Vecco, 2021. "The “Intrinsic Value” of Cultural Heritage as Driver for Circular Human-Centered Adaptive Reuse," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-28, March.
    10. Pietro Catrini & Tancredi Testasecca & Alessandro Buscemi & Antonio Piacentino, 2022. "Exergoeconomics as a Cost-Accounting Method in Thermal Grids with the Presence of Renewable Energy Producers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-27, March.
    11. Stanislav Chicherin & Vladislav Mašatin & Andres Siirde & Anna Volkova, 2020. "Method for Assessing Heat Loss in A District Heating Network with A Focus on the State of Insulation and Actual Demand for Useful Energy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-15, September.
    12. Wheatcroft, Edward & Wynn, Henry P. & Lygnerud, Kristina & Bonvicini, Giorgio & Bonvicini, Giorgio & Lenote, Daniela, 2020. "The role of low temperature waste heat recovery in achieving 2050 goals: a policy positioning paper," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 104136, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Alessandro Guzzini & Marco Pellegrini & Edoardo Pelliconi & Cesare Saccani, 2020. "Low Temperature District Heating: An Expert Opinion Survey," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-34, February.
    14. Gross, Michel & Karbasi, Babak & Reiners, Tobias & Altieri, Lisa & Wagner, Hermann-Josef & Bertsch, Valentin, 2021. "Implementing prosumers into heating networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    15. Paiho, Satu & Saastamoinen, Heidi, 2018. "How to develop district heating in Finland?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 668-676.
    16. M. Moore, 2021. "Collaboration in Coworking Spaces: Impact on Firm Innovativeness and Business Models," Papers 2111.09866, arXiv.org.
    17. Daliborka Witschel & Aaron Döhla & Maximilian Kaiser & Kai-Ingo Voigt & Thilo Pfletschinger, 2019. "Riding on the wave of digitization: insights how and under what settings dynamic capabilities facilitate digital-driven business model change," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 89(8), pages 1023-1095, December.
    18. Andrić, I. & Fournier, J. & Lacarrière, B. & Le Corre, O. & Ferrão, P., 2018. "The impact of global warming and building renovation measures on district heating system techno-economic parameters," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 926-937.
    19. Werner, Sven, 2017. "District heating and cooling in Sweden," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 419-429.
    20. Lygnerud, Kristina & Ottosson, Jonas & Kensby, Johan & Johansson, Linnea, 2021. "Business models combining heat pumps and district heating in buildings generate cost and emission savings," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:278:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223011088. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.