A Good Practice in Urban Energetics in a Hungarian Small Town, Kaposvar

The definition of the sustainable urban energy system is very wide as every local system utilizes the local resources, local specialties. This chapter − after short theoretical introduction – presents good practice from a Hungarian city. The city energy system establishment process is based on separate developments of different stakeholders. The history of the development, the analysis of the technical, economic, stability, dependency, and environmental aspects of this current operating system, and detailing of the future plans will be introduced. Instead of the original district heating system – in the 1990s – there were gas engines installed, providing cogeneration of central heating and electricity. In the 2000s a sugarcane-based biogas plant started to operate in the local sugar factory and a company producing composite body buses settled in the city. The city of Kaposvár started to consider the inhabitants’ needs, like district heating, transportation, and satisfactory air quality, that are integrated. All these abovementioned local resources could be utilized synergic and thus, a special urban energy system was born. CNG (compressed natural gas)-operated public transportation buses are running on the roads, produced by the local sugarcane company, filled at the district heating division – having the proper infrastructure. There EV filling station operates, opened for the public. A wood chip fired heating plant joined the system – as it reached the economic size for it. Waste heat recovery and smart metering systems are installed for more than 60% of the flats. In conclusion, Kaposvár is at the forefront in the implementation of modern urban energy solutions.