Recent Advances in District Cooling Diffusion in the EU27+UK: An Assessment of the Market

Simon Pezzutto, Philippe Riviere, Lukas Kranzl, Andrea Zambito, Giulio Quaglini, Antonio Novelli, Marcus Hummel, Luigi Bottecchia and Eric Wilczynski
Additional contact information
Simon Pezzutto: Institute for Renewable Energy, European Academy of Bolzano (EURAC Research), Viale Druso 1, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
Philippe Riviere: Directorate-General for Energy (DG Energy), European Commission, Unit B3: Buildings and Products, 1049 Bruxelles, Belgium
Lukas Kranzl: Energy Economics Group, Institute of Energy Systems and Electric Drives, TU Wien, Gusshausstrasse 25-29/370-3, 1040 Vienna, Austria
Andrea Zambito: Institute for Renewable Energy, European Academy of Bolzano (EURAC Research), Viale Druso 1, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
Giulio Quaglini: Institute for Renewable Energy, European Academy of Bolzano (EURAC Research), Viale Druso 1, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
Antonio Novelli: Planetek Italia, Via Massaua 12, I-70132 Bari, Italy
Marcus Hummel: E-Think Energy Research, Argentinierstrasse 18/10, 1040 Vienna, Austria
Luigi Bottecchia: Institute for Renewable Energy, European Academy of Bolzano (EURAC Research), Viale Druso 1, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
Eric Wilczynski: Institute for Renewable Energy, European Academy of Bolzano (EURAC Research), Viale Druso 1, 39100 Bolzano, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 7, 1-16

Abstract: The scope of this investigation is to analyze recent advances in district cooling (DC) in Europe (European Union plus the United Kingdom (EU27+UK)). The study focuses on data and information from the past decade and draws a picture for the year 2016. To date, in contrast to the European district heating market, the European DC branch has barely been explored in scientific literature. In the current paper, the data that describe the actual DC market in the EU27+UK—which includes the quantity of DC plants, equivalent full-load hours, and installed capacities as well as the values for seasonal energy efficiency—are collected and then explored using a bottom-up approach. The results indicate that DC is responsible for a minor part of the useful energy demand of Europe for cooling with around 3 TWh/y. Overall, the share of the useful energy demand for DC corresponds with 1 to 2% of the EU27+UK useful energy demand. Moreover, it is worth mentioning that the penetration of DC varies considerably from country to country, and eight European Member States appear to not have district cooling systems at all. Lastly, it is observed that DC has been slowly but constantly growing in Europe for decades and is characterized by a high growth potential, particularly in the service sector.

Keywords: district cooling; Europe; diffusion; market; potential (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:7:p:4128-:d:783513

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