SmartCitiesDive
Summary
A new report released last week offers a road map to help communities deploy neighborhood-scale thermal energy networks, which use a system of water pipes and heat pumps to interconnect buildings with otherwise wasted thermal energy from buildings, sewage systems and underground transit stations to provide a shared heating and cooling network.
“By leveraging ‘waste’ heat and renewable sources, [thermal energy networks] provide fossil-fuel-free heating and cooling with unmatched efficiency,” the report states.
Growing demand for electricity to power data centers and transportation electrification, along with the Trump administration’s deprioritizing of renewable energy, make it imperative for cities to investigate thermal energy networks, said Johanna Partin, founding principal of Transformative Strategies Consulting, which authored the report with Common Spark Consulting.
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