District Energy Space

Showcasing Industry Growth

District Energy Space is IDEA's annual compilation of the number of buildings and their area in square feet that have been committed or recommitted to district energy service by IDEA member systems during the previous calendar year. In conjunction with the annual publication, IDEA acknowledges District Energy Systems contributing the highest growth in North America and Beyond North America with annual District Energy Space awards.

How to Submit Your Data for District Energy Space 2020

IDEA is now accepting submissions for District Energy 2020. Please follow the instructions below or download the instruction form. Submission Deadline has been extended to Friday, August 13, 2021.

1. Please download the appropriate District Energy Space Submission Form for your organization. The form is in Microsoft Excel format. Note that the first line item is provided only as a SAMPLE guide to the type of information requested in each cell of the form:

2020 North America Submission Form

2020 Beyond North America Submission Form

Identify buildings that committed or renewed district energy service during the previous calendar year including the following information:

Building Name, Location and Service Contract Type (New or Renewed*)
Total Building Area Added (sq. ft.): Please include all residential villas, flats or apartments as one complex. (Example: “Wolf Run” may contain 200 villas, flats or apartments, but is entered as one building complex named “Wolf Run.”)
Area Served by Building Type – Re-enter Building Area (sq. ft.) corresponding to each building type
Services provided – Check all that apply: space heating, space cooling, domestic hot water, humidification, process, kitchen, refrigeration, other (examples: laundry, ice-making, pool warming, etc.)

Next Steps

2. Please save the completed Excel spreadsheet with your organization’s name and year. For example: “ABCEnergy-2020.xlsx"

3. Please save a separate spreadsheet for each operating region or state.

4. Please send photos! Be sure the filenames of your photos include the organization and building name. For example: “ABCEnergy – Building A.jpg” Photo format should be JPEG, as produced by a smartphone or digital camera. Please note that the resolution of images from PowerPoint presentations or websites is typically low and not useable.

5. Complete the “Submission Certification” form.

6. Email the completed Submission Form and photos to Jason Beal at idea@districtenergy.org

7. Questions? Email us at idea@districtenergy.org or call us at +1 (508) 366-9339

*DEFINITIONS OF NEW and RENEWED

NEW: A new building is defined as a building that is physically connecting to a district energy system for district heating or cooling service the first time. The building must have been occupied and in operation during the year in which it is being reported. These building(s) should not have been previously reported under DE Space to IDEA.

RENEWED: Renewed in the context of District Energy Space means that the end use building space served by the district energy system (the square foot area being counted) was under a service agreement that was near to conclusion or termination and the service agreement to serve the building space was renewed to district energy service for a minimum of 10 additional years.

However, please note replacement of the named end-user on the contract (for example, Sheraton takes over operation of a Hilton Hotel served by district energy) but the length of the service contract was not extended, would not qualify as "renewed".

Likewise, the acquisition of an operating district energy system by another operating district energy system does not meet the standard of Renewal (or New), unless the system acquisition triggers a new contract term with named end-user buildings for a term that is equal to or greater than 10 years.

District Energy Space 2019

North America

Our members reported that they committed or recommitted 334 customer buildings in North America totaling 72,900,289 square feet (sq ft) of building space to district energy service during 2019 or were previously unreported. That compares with 174 buildings and 64,021,207 sq ft during 2018.

The North America total of 72,900,289 sq ft added in 2019 to IDEA’s running total of square footage of 865,692,809 sq ft committed to North American district energy systems since 1990, brings the current total for North America reported since 1990 to 938,593,098 sq ft.

Beyond North America

IDEA is also pleased to be able to report strong system growth from beyond North America, which we have tracked since 2004. An additional 303 buildings and 108,493,596 sq ft were reported for 2019. That compares with 156 buildings and 49,962,277 sq ft during 2018.

The Beyond North America total of 108,493,596 sq ft added in 2019 to IDEA’s running total of square footage of 1,480,533,846 Beyond North America since 2004, brings the Beyond North America total reported since 2004 to 1,589,027,442 sq ft.

Totals: North America and Beyond North America

The combined building area reported added during 2019 in North America and Beyond North America is 181,393,885 sq ft. The total building area added, as reported to District Energy Space by our members since our tally began is 181,393,885 + 2,341,247,861 = 2,522,641,746 sq ft.