How Much Excess Heat Might Be Used in Buildings? A Spatial Analysis at the Municipal Level in Germany

Markus Fritz (), Ali Aydemir and Liselotte Schebek
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Markus Fritz: Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, Breslauer Strasse 48, 76139 Karlsruhe, Germany
Ali Aydemir: Chair of Material Flow Management and Resource Economy, Institute IWAR, Technical University of Darmstadt, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany
Liselotte Schebek: Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, Breslauer Strasse 48, 76139 Karlsruhe, Germany

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 17, 1-17

Abstract: Excess heat can make an important contribution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the heating and cooling sector. Due to the local character of heat, the local excess heat potential is decisive for using excess heat. However, the spatially distributed potential and the subdivision of the potential into different subsectors have not been sufficiently investigated in Germany. Here we analyse the excess heat potential in Germany according to different subsectors and spatially distributed to the municipal level. We use data of more than 115,000 records on exhaust gas and fuel input from over 11,000 industrial sites. We calculate the site-specific excess heat potential and check its plausibility using the fuel input of the respective industrial sites. Finally, we compare the excess heat potential with the residential heat demand at the municipal level. Our results show that the excess heat potential in Germany is about 36.6 TWh/a, and that in 148 municipalities, the annual excess heat potential is greater than 50% of the annual heat demand. In conclusion, there is a large potential for excess heat utilisation in Germany. In some regions, more excess heat is available throughout the year than is needed to provide space heat and hot water.

Keywords: waste heat; excess heat; spatial analysis; industrial energy demand; heat demand; industrial subsectors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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