Blogs

When Does a District Energy System Make Sense?

By District Energy posted 4 days ago
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Buildings Summary When is one better than many? For campuses and large facilities, the answer may come in the form of a district energy system, where generating assets are centralized and provide cooling, heating, or electricity to multiple buildings via distributed piping or wiring. These systems have been around for more than 100 years, explained George Howe, principal of Affiliated Engineers, Inc. —for example, New York City’s steam distribution system, which features 105 miles of pipes, has been in operation since 1882. They have since evolved to provide electricity as well, Howe said. One type of district energy system that you’ve likely heard of—the ...
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Princeton University Microgrid, Which Once Overcame a Tropical Cyclone, is Improving Carbon Footprint and Resiliency

By District Energy posted 4 days ago
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Microgrid Knowledge Summary In October 2012, Princeton University made headlines worldwide when over 8 million electric customers lost power during Superstorm Sandy and the university’s microgrid kept its critical systems running, allowing the New Jersey-based Ivy League campus to serve as an electric refuge for faculty, students, staff members, first responders and local community members. At the time, the campus was energized by an on-site 15-MW combined heat and power (CHP) plant–producing electricity and thermal energy in the form of heating and cooling from a single source of energy. The microgrid also included chilled water, thermal ...
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Resilience over Reflex: Why district energy wins in policy whiplash

By District Energy posted 4 days ago
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North American Clean Energy Summary Uncertainty has become the only constant. Since 2020, we’ve lived through a pandemic, a market crash, a supply-chain crisis, and runaway inflation, all while racing to decarbonize an economy that barely had time to catch its breath. That sprint produced the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a sweeping policy package that combined healthcare reforms, tax changes, and historic clean energy investments. Just three years later, a sharp political reversal brought the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), underscoring how quickly priorities can shift and how deeply those shifts ripple through markets. In a world of unstable energy ...
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Big Tech’s AI push is spawning a new heat economy

By District Energy posted 4 days ago
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CNBC Summary Amid the AI boom, hyperscalers and governments are looking for ways to repurpose excess heat from data centers. CNBC's April Roach has been looking into how the power-hungry facilities are increasingly being integrated with local district heating networks. #News #DataCenter #DistrictEnergy #DistrictHeating
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Ahmad Bin Shafar reviews the progress of Empower’s initiative with ASHRAE

By District Energy posted 5 days ago
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Zawya Summary H.E. Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO of Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation PJSC (Empower), the world’s largest district cooling services provider, met with the leadership of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), on the sidelines of Empower’s participation in the 2026 ASHRAE Winter Conference, held in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The meeting reviewed the developments in the global district cooling sector and discussed its growing role in advancing energy efficiency and supporting the sustainability objectives of modern cities. The two sides also discussed progress in developing a globally ...
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International District Energy Association Announces Speakers and Program for CampusEnergy2026

By District Energy posted 5 days ago
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The International District Energy Association (IDEA) will host its 39th annual CampusEnergy conference, CampusEnergy2026, February 17–20, 2026, at the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center near Washington, D.C. Under the theme “Advancing Thermal Networks,” the conference will bring together more than 1,200 district energy campus and community energy leaders for four days of workshops, technical sessions, case studies, and sold-out tours at Georgetown University, Gallaudet University, and The George Washington University. “District energy is at a turning point,” said Rob Thornton, president and CEO of IDEA. “Cities and campuses have to reduce carbon, ...
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Small Reactors, Big Impact: How Matt Memmott is Reimagining Nuclear Power in Utah

By District Energy posted 6 days ago
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tech buzz Summary AlphaTech’s molten salt reactors measure roughly five feet wide and seven feet tall but can generate 12 megawatts each—enough electricity to power about 12,000 homes. “These are not massive plants,” Memmott says. “They’re compact, modular, and designed to be produced in a factory, shipped by truck or even a C-17, and assembled on site in about two days.” A single reactor plant occupies just 30-by-30 feet, but up to 100 units can fit on a seven-acre facility, collectively generating 1.2 gigawatts. By designing these reactors to sit underground, AlphaTech maximizes shielding, isolates operations from public exposure, and safeguards against ...
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‘World’s largest’ air-to-water heat pump, electric boilers to be constructed

By District Energy posted 6 days ago
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SD Engineering News Summary Helsinki-based, city-owned energy company Helen has selected global technology manufacturer Valmet to provide automation solutions for the world’s largest air-to-water heat pump and two electric boilers, which are currently under construction. Upon completion, the Patola air-to-water heat pump plant will be the largest in the world with a full heating production capacity around 30 MW. Helen serves over 600 000 clients in Finland, providing electricity, heating and cooling, as well as renewable energy and electric transport solutions. Having committed to sustainability, Helen is systematically reducing ...
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How Berlin and Warsaw Are Upgrading, Not Abandoning, Their Central Heating Systems

By District Energy posted 6 days ago
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in Korr Summary According to ХВИЛЯ : Rather than shutting down their major combined heat and power (CHP) plants, Warsaw and Berlin are modernizing them, setting an example for effective district heating in European cities. Oleg Popenko, head of the Union of Utility Services Consumers, highlights that both cities have implemented significant changes to their heating systems, allowing them to preserve their centralized CHP plants while improving their operations. Berlin, for its part, has one of the most developed district heating networks in Europe. Berlin's energy system was designed with the involvement of Soviet engineers, making it similar to Kyiv's. ...
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How the Large Hadron Collider Became the World’s Most Advanced Neighborhood Heater

By District Energy posted 6 days ago
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Gadget Review Summary Dead heating bills during energy crises hurt families, but CERN’s ingenious heat recovery system turns physics research into home comfort. The Large Hadron Collider , famous for smashing particles at near-light speed, now channels its waste heat directly into Ferney-Voltaire’s district heating network. Instead of venting thermal energy into the atmosphere like a giant industrial exhale, two 5-megawatt heat exchangers capture hot water from the LHC’s cooling systems and route it to warm several thousand homes. Continue Reading #News #DistrictHeating
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Thousands of Ballymun homes to be retrofitted to meet net-zero climate goals

By District Energy posted 6 days ago
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Dublin Live Summary Ballymun and Ringsend/Poolbeg have been identified as decarbonising zones which will be central to meeting Dublin City Council’s goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the decarbonising zones relates to ‘district heating,’ which radically rethinks the way homes are heated. Rather than every household having their own individual heating system, this would utilise a shared network, much like an electricity grid. With a network of underground pipes, these could utilise waste heat from data centres, power plants and waste incineration, as well as river and sea water, geothermal ...
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The city of Zurich is starting 134 construction projects this year, 31 district heating sites

By District Energy posted 6 days ago
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Express Summary The city of Zurich will launch 134 new construction sites this year, in addition to 62 existing projects already in development. One of the main priorities remains the expansion of the district heating network (Fernwärme), which is considered key to achieving the city's climate goals. 31 district heating sites are expected to be active by 2026 alone, including areas such as Scheuchzerstrasse and Altstetten-Ost. These works are being coordinated simultaneously with the renovation of the underground infrastructure. Continue Reading #News #DistrictHeating
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‘The LED of heating’: cheap geothermal energy system makes US comeback

By District Energy posted 6 days ago
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The Guardian Summary Nearly half a century ago, the US Department of Energy launched a clean energy experiment beneath the University of Minnesota with a simple goal: storing hot water for months at a time in an aquifer more than 100 metres below ground. The idea of the seasonal thermal energy storage was to tuck away excess heat produced in summer, then use it in the winter to warm buildings. Now, 45 years after the first test wells were drilled under the university’s St Paul campus, one of the first large-scale aquifer thermal energy systems in the country is being built less than 10 miles from the original test site. Groundwater ...
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Dublin university campus gets heat from AWS data center

By District Energy posted 6 days ago
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EdScoop Summary The Technological University of Dublin’s Tallaght campus is using the excess heat from a nearby Amazon Web Services data center to warm its students. The Irish university has been using the excess heat in its own heating and ventilation system since 2023, CNBC reported. According to one expert, this manner of heat exchange is not especially cost-effective, but the heat would go to waste if the university did not used it. According to the International District Energy Association, similar heat systems can be found in 165 supermarkets across Europe, most of them in Denmark. The stores’ refrigerators reportedly channel heat ...
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Why winter resilience is becoming a strategic priority for Minneapolis healthcare campuses

By District Energy posted 6 days ago
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Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal Summary In Minneapolis, winter performance is not optional. Prolonged periods of extreme cold, place sustained pressure on healthcare campuses that operate 24/7 and often at full capacity. Patient safety, clinical outcomes, and workforce effectiveness all depend on stable indoor environments during the most demanding months of the year. For decades, Cordia has operated the district energy system serving downtown Minneapolis, providing centralized steam, hot water, and chilled water to more than 100 customers across the urban core. Healthcare facilities such as Fairview Health Services and Mayo Clinic Square rely on ...
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SGC Energy to Build 300 MW AI Data Center in North Jeolla Province

By District Energy posted 6 days ago
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Maeil Summary SGC Energy is planning a 300 megawatt (MW) artificial intelligence (AI) data center project in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province. The company aims to go beyond its role as a district energy provider by directly participating in investment and infrastructure construction to enhance the project’s completeness. The AI data center will be built within Gunsan National Industrial Complex 2 on a site of about 115,000 square meters, or roughly 35,000 pyeong. The first phase will be a 40 MW modular data center, with construction starting by the end of this year and operations scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2028. The facility will then be ...
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Tyrone firm turns dust into power with £9m investment

By District Energy posted 6 days ago
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Yahoo! News Summary First Minister, Michelle O’Neill visited the O&S Doors factory on Wednesday (28/01/2025) to announce that the company is making a “hugely innovative” £9 million investment to install a biomass fuel system, with support from the Shared Island Sustainability Scheme. The biomass fuelled Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system, which will be the first of its kind on the island of Ireland, works by burning MDF dust, a by-product of the factory, and using it as fuel for a generator which will provide energy and heat for the manufacturing process. Continue Reading #News #CHP #Biomass
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Trostberg, Germany in early stages of planning geothermal district heating project

By District Energy posted 6 days ago
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Think GeoEnergy Summary A geothermal heating project in the city of Trostberg in Bavaria, Germany is in the early stages of planning and implementation. If all goes to plan, Trostberg and its surrounding areas will be supplied by geothermal heating starting 2029. The details of the project were recently presented by utility company Erdwärme Alz GmbH during a public information event. As stated during the event, Geothermie Trostberg plans to harness geothermal energy using a total of four deep boreholes. The site for the planned geothermal heating plant is located near the hamlet of Fernhub, approximately four kilometers south of the town of Trostberg ...
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University of Colorado – Boulder - Assistant Director, Utility Distribution Systems

By District Energy posted 6 days ago
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University of Colorado – Boulder Assistant Director, Utility Distribution Systems Requisition Number: 69790 Location: Boulder, Colorado Employment Type: University Staff Schedule: Full-Time Posting Close Date: 01-Mar-2026 Date Posted: 30-Jan-2026 Job Summary Utility and Energy Services at CU Boulder encourages application for an Assistant Director, Utility Distribution Systems ! This role has direct oversight of all utility distribution budgets, applications, assessments, safety programs, training programs and engineering design criteria including planning strategically for systems. The role develops and maintains unit ...
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A Secret Panel to Question Climate Science Was Unlawful, Judge Rules

By District Energy posted 8 days ago
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The New York Times Summary A federal judge on Friday ruled the Energy Department violated the law when Secretary Chris Wright handpicked five researchers who reject the scientific consensus on climate change to work in secret on a sweeping government report on global warming. The Energy Department issued the report, which downplayed the dangers of warming , in late July without having held any public meetings or made records available to the public. Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, then cited the report to justify a plan to repeal the endangerment finding , a landmark scientific determination that serves as the ...
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