This paper discusses the compatibility of district heating (DH) networks with deep retrofits of buildings under various European climate conditions and city typologies. The study analyses five cities with different DH market shares, climate zones, population densities, and transferability potentials. First, we have forecasted population, heated floor area, and share of floor area per construction period until 2050, and then calculated three different heat demand scenarios for varying building refurbishment rates of 1%, 2%, and 3% of the total floor area. Second, future suitable DH regions with min 25 GWh/km2 networks were identified. By applying a bottom-up GIS model, based on the type of city area, number of buildings, street length, and heat density, the DH distribution capital and operation costs were calculated. Lastly, to compare the total cost of heat supply for each scenario, the cost of individual heat per building type was calculated. The results show that even in the scenarios with high refurbishment rates of 3%, high percentage of the built-up areas, between 23% and 68% depending on the city typology, are suitable for DH supply in 2050. The share of DH from the total heat supply varies between 49% and 83%. An increase of the DH price between 14% and 35%, depending on the scenario and case study can be expected due to the reduced heat densities compared to the current ones. Nevertheless, maximizing the DH connection rates in the identified regions leads to lower total cost of heat in almost all the analysed case studies.
In the energy transition context, the manufacturing industry moves into the spotlight, as it is responsible for significant proportions of global greenhouse gas emissions. The consequent pressure to decarbonize leads to suppliers needing to report and continuously reduce the energy consumption incurred in manufacturing supplied goods. To track the energy footprint of their products, manufacturing companies need to integrate energy data with process and planning data, enabling the tracing of the product-specific energy consumption on the shop floor level. Since manufacturing processes are prone to disturbances such as maintenance, the energy footprint of each product differs. Meanwhile, the demand for energy-efficiently produced products is increasing, supporting the development of a sustainability-focused procurement by OEMs. This paper addresses this development and outlines the technical requirements as well as how companies can identify product-specific energy consumption. Furthermore, a case study is conducted detailing how to determine the product-specific energy footprint.
