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District heating

Dernière mise à jour le 6 September 2019

“A heating network, also a district heating network, distributes heat in a city through pipes running underground on public roads. This heat can be in the form of hot water, or steam. District heating users opt for the connection – as is the case for gas – and, thanks to an exchanger, can thus benefit from this heat.”

“The first networks were created in the 1930s. But it was mainly following the oil crisis of 1974 and the encouragement of the State that these systems developed them.”

“380 large urban networks, not to mention networks of public or private sites, heat 2,500,000 people in their daily lives, at work or at leisure, in more than 250 cities. This represents more than 10,000 kilometres of pipelines supplied by more than 20 GW, or 6% of the energy consumed in France by heating.

“Heat is produced in large power plants where several fuel sources such as heavy fuel oil, coal, gas, wood, geothermal energy or household waste can be used. In some cases, a portion of the energy produced is converted into electricity by a turbo-alternator. At the same time, there are also pipes distributing very cold water (6 degrees) that can replace conventional air conditioning systems.”

“The main advantages of district heating are as follows:

  • control of energy costs,
  • development of multi-energetics,
  • possibility for the power plant to cool down”

Source: http://www.ecologie-urbaine.org/