Should we heat the way we think?
Some prefer gas, others insist on oil. A man's will is his wealth, but in his own head, where feelings reside side by side with the mind, the supply of energy has to be right, as this is where ideas are born.This is also where district heating was born as an energy system. District heating can make living together even warmer by supplying sound energy service. District heating soothes the feelings and ensures that we are all well supplied with energy.
District heating is produced in CHP plants or heat-only stations. The medium for transmitting heat is usually water which is carried to consumers via a pipeline system. There it is transferred through heating units or heat exchangers for space-heating or to provide domestic and commercial hot water. Cooled water then flows back to the original power plant, where it is reheated. District heating service is thus nothing more than a large central heating system. Instead of individual buildings, whole districts can be supplied with ready-to-use heating.
District heating is gaining more and more importance as an economical and economically sustainable form of supplying energy service for space and water-heating as well as for industrial purposes.
Fuel, such as coal, is burned in a CHP plant. Heat from combustion converts water to steam which first drives a turbine to generate electricity. Finally, district heating is produced either as steam or high-temperature water, which then leaves the CHP plant. As the name implies, heat-only plants serve solely to generate heat.
District heating is transported to you through supply and return pipelines, similar to the way your heating system at home works, but using steam or high-temperature water from CHP plants. In so doing, we make certain that district heating is sent to you with the right supply temperature, depending on the respective outside temperatures.
District heating - either hot-water or steam - is transported to consumers primarily through well insulated, underground pipelines.
The point at which we deliver district heating to our customers is in transfer substations. They are usually either in your basement or in the basement of a neighbouring building. Customers tap as much heat through their service connections as may be needed for space and water-heating or for air conditioning.
Our district heating partners are usually the owners of buildings. Contracts for supplying district heating are concluded with these owners. Consumption is registered by meters and then allocated.