Urban cold network (current situation and definition)

Since 2006, over 50% of the world's inhabitants live in cities (over 74% in European countries), which amply justifies the interest shown in the problems of our urban environment.

As the center of economic activity, cities consume most of the planet's resources, but are also responsible for most of its pollution. That's why urban planning is an absolute priority, requiring long-term decisions. Demand for services such as air-conditioning is already growing rapidly, and will increase even more in the future, due in particular to global warming, changes in population density, growth in the number of computers and the watertightness of building envelopes.

To meet these challenges, the RFU district cooling network represents a more efficient way of managing energy, both in terms of saving energy, rationalizing distribution, and reducing pollution and water consumption.

This package on district cooling networks consists of three articles:

• District cooling networks – Cold production and storage [BE 9 321] ;

• District cooling networks – Distribution networks [BE 9 322] .

These various articles show how SFNs have developed in various parts of the world, and in particular how a large number of technical solutions have been implemented for each of the network components; most of these solutions have been extensively tested in real-life conditions, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages.