Communal or individual – Exploring cost-efficient heating of new city-level housing in a systems perspective
Journal article, 2023

As cities expand, new buildings are constructed and they require heating. With increasing integration of the heating and electricity sectors and forecasts of rapid growth in electricity demand, heating choices become critical for the sustainability transition. The main heating options are communal or individual, where the communal option is represented by district heating (DH) and the individual option mainly by heat pumps or biomass heating. Which option is best from the cost perspective depends on the building type and on the energy system development. Thus, this paper investigates cost-efficient heating of new city-level housing in a systems perspective under various scenarios. The investigation was carried out using an energy systems optimization model based on a case representing Swedish conditions. A dynamic approach was used to investigate cost-efficient development of the supply side and demand side simultaneously. The results indicate that the most cost-efficient heating systems are: DH for apartment buildings; and individual heating options for single-family housing with low heat demands. For large single-family housing with high heat demands, the cost-efficient solution depends on the heat demand profile. Higher heat use during winter favors DH and individual biomass boilers, but diminishes the economic feasibility of individual heat pumps.

District heating

Climate policy

Low heat demand housing

TIMES

Energy system modeling

Housing

Author

Karl Vilén

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Energy Technology

Sujeetha Selvakkumaran

Det Norske Veritas (DNV)

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Energy Technology

Erik Ahlgren

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Energy Technology

Smart Energy

26669552 (eISSN)

Vol. 10 100097

Samverkan om framtida värme

Swedish Energy Agency (45990-1), 2018-07-01 -- 2021-12-31.

Subject Categories

Energy Engineering

Other Environmental Engineering

Energy Systems

DOI

10.1016/j.segy.2023.100097

More information

Latest update

4/13/2023