Is there a role for district heating in future cities with low energy buildings?

The district heating sector is challenged in its traditionalway of doing business by buildings increasingly moreenergy efficient (with low heat demand for space heating).This paper reports on work of mapping out suchchallenges connected to passive houses in Sweden. Itshould be noted that the conditions might be different indifferent geographical areas. To gain climate friendlinessin the building sector a system perspective must be usedboth regarding energy and environmental issues. Thelevels of energy use in buildings in Sweden today and inthe future are discussed together with marginal vs.average thinking regarding energy and heat production.From our findings we conclude that it is not necessarilyso that electricity or natural gas should be the option ofchoice for hot water demand or peak loads that need tobe externally covered also in energy efficient buildings.However, it will require active work by district heatingcompanies to stay competitive. It will be increasinglyimportant for district heating companies to communicatewith their customers. It will also be important to identifynew customers and new areas where heat can beutilized; the “district heating villa” in G\uf6teborg, Sweden is an example of investigating new possibilities of heat use.The study reported in this paper has identified a numberof areas where further research and development isneeded for district heating to improve the future marketposition of district heating