ABSTRACT
In Volume 1 (Chapter 9), the concept of ‘community-integrated energy systems’ was introduced. These consist of district heating networks coupled to electricity generation through cogeneration, and of district cooling from centralized electric chillers and/or absorption chillers using waste heat from electricity generation. They allow the aggregation of the heating and cooling loads of a collection of diverse buildings within a given area, the efficient generation of electricity from fuels, the utilization of scattered sources of heat (in addition to or instead of electric powerplants) and the utilization of lower-temperature heat sinks (such as the ground, sewage and lake, river or seawater) for cooling purposes. As discussed in Chapter 9 of Volume 1, substantial energy savings are possible in this way, sometimes with reduced investment costs. In this chapter we extend this concept by considering the integration of district heating and cooling and electricity generation with the use of onsite renewable energy resources. We begin with seasonal underground storage of summer heat and winter coldness.
