What is District Energy?

District Energy Systems (DES) centralize the production of thermal energy within a district or community.  This energy is circulated through a distribution piping system (DPS) and utilized by the surrounding buildings via an energy transfer station (ETS). Buildings connected to a DES have no self-generating equipment such as boilers, chillers or cooling towers. All of their heating, cooling and potable hot water energy is provided by the DES.

Renewable Energy at Scale

At FVB, we like to say “District Energy is a bridge to renewables”; having a thermal grid in a community can help facilitate the implementation of renewable energy sources that would be technically challenging and/or cost prohibitive to implement at the individual building level. The aggregate heating and cooling demands of multiple buildings with different use profiles creates a smoother and more predictable load duration curve to baseload with the renewable energy, allowing appropriate sizing of the technology and optimizing run hours to lower both operational costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

Higher Efficiencies

DES heat and cool buildings using less energy than conventional building systems. The energy savings come from higher overall efficiency, utilization of waste heat, and taking advantage of renewable energy (such as biomass or solar thermal). These higher efficiencies will be maintained through the life of the system due to the stringent operation and maintenance programs and on-site, dedicated operators that are monitoring the DES.

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