Cities and municipalities are thinking hard about how they can help realize European, federal and Flemish climate ambitions locally. One of the issues here is how buildings will be heated in the future. In order to write well thought-out transition scenarios, heat zoning plans are a particularly useful tool.
A heat zoning plan is a map or collection of maps that depicts the current situation in a municipality - where is heating in which way today and what heat sources are present? - and examines the various options for making the heat demand more sustainable. These maps are translated into a future perspective, taking into account developments, renovations and new heat sources, in order to draw up a final picture towards which the municipality can evolve. The solutions can be collective (using sustainable heat sources as a starting point) or individual per building (using a heat pump or a biomass boiler).
We start with a neighborhood type map. Based on public data, we divide the territory into building types based on the destination of the plots: residential, office, retail, school, healthcare facility, industrial, agricultural. For housing, we also map the average year of construction, average income per household, type of household and age of residents. After all, these are elements that can play a role in the willingness of citizens to invest (still) in greening their heat demand.
Then a heat demand map is drawn up. We look at where the large heat consumers such as industry, schools and healthcare institutions are located (red on the map) on the one hand, and map potentially interesting heat sources on the other, such as waste incinerators, residual heat from industry, sewage treatment, surface water, cold-heat storage and cogeneration. The renovation potential of existing facilities and installations is also examined.
On the basis of all the information gathered - which can also be contained in various ánother maps than those mentioned above - a heat zoning map is created. This involves dividing the territory into zones. For each zone, we determine the best option.
Which options are retained as choices for local government depends on its climate ambitions. Opting for a carbon-neutral model, for example, completely rules out the use of fossil fuels - such as natural gas - while aiming for a reduction of, say, 40 percent can also be achieved with a mix of fossil and renewable energy. Either way, our models take into account the best option(s) in the long term, preferably with a time horizon of 2050.
At Ingenium, we have been building expertise with both local heat networks and individual building solutions for decades . Based on many dozens of feasibility studies and the effective engineering of numerous concrete projects, our know-how is particularly extensive. The heat zoning plans we draw up are therefore not theory, but are based on concepts and plans of approach that have proven their added value in practice.
More info?
Then be sure to contact our expert Thomas Koch at 050 40 45 30 or at thomas.koch@ingenium.be
