To alleviate global warming, European-Union member states must reduce primary energy use, emit less carbon dioxide (CO2), and increase renewable energy use. Buildings constitute a great potential for energy savings, but saving energy in district-heated buildings influences combined heat and power (CHP) production, other electricity generation, and global CO2 emissions.   This thesis investigates the system effects from Swedish district heating production caused by district heating demand changes due to energy conservation in buildings. The cost-optimising linear programming modelling tools MODEST and FMS, the latter developed in the context of this thesis, are used to describe present district heating production and to investigate the impact of heat-demand reductions in twelve Swedish district heating systems, four of them representing all Swedish district heating.   Energy savings in district-heated, multi-family residential buildings yield a lower, more seasonally levelled district heating demand. These demand changes mainly reduce use of fossil-fuel and biomass for heat production. CHP production is significantly reduced if it supplies intermediate or peak district heating load. The αsystem value (ratio between generated CHP electricity and produced district heating) increases by demand reductions if CHP mainly supplies base district heating load. CO2 emissions due to district heat production depend on the approach used for CO2 assessment of electricity, and are generally reduced with heat demand reductions, unless the share of CHP production is large and the reduced fuel use yields smaller emission reductions than the emission increase from power production that replaces reduced CHP generation.   In total, heat demand reductions reduce CO2 emissions due to Swedish district heating, and the district heating systems even constitute a carbon sink at certain energy conservation levels. If saved biomass replaces fossil fuels elsewhere, a lower heat demand reduces CO2 emissions for every studied district heating system.

The Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) may be the superior cycle for power generation using low temperature and low power heat sources due to the utilization of high molecular mass fluids with low boiling points. They are flexible, simple, easy to operate and maintain, and offer many possible areas of applications including waste heat recovery and power generation from biomass, geothermal and even solar energy. Therefore, they may prove to be of significant importance in reducing global greenhouse gas emission and in the mitigation of climate change. In this thesis the technical feasibility and economic profitability of implementing an ORC in a district heating boiler station is investigated. A model of ORC connected to the hot water circuit of one of the biomass boilers of the boiler station is simulated. The achieved evaporation temperature is estimated to 135 degrees C and the condensation temperature is found to vary in the range of about 70-100 degrees C. The results show that it is both possible and profitable to implement an ORC in the studied boiler station. A maximum net present value of 2.3 MSEK is achieved for a 400 kW system and a maximum internal rate of return of 8.5%, equivalent to a payback period of 9.5 years, is achieved for a 300 kW system. Furthermore, the investment is found to be most sensitive to changes in the electricity price, net electric efficiency and capital expenditure cost.

The aim of this thesis work is to analyse the trends in heat use among Borlänge Energis district heating customer over the last 20 years. Several reports show that in general the buildings stock get more and more efficient, both in Sweden and other European countries, but will the same trend be seen among Borlänge Energis customer? Data of delivered heat to 324 customers, both single-family houses and multifamily houses, for the period of 1998-2018 is used in this study. The heating that is assumed for domestic hot water is calculated and the heat used for heating is temperature corrected so the heat needed for a normal year could be calculated. The investigated customers are divided into different groups representing various types of buildings with different building years. From this data it’s possible to see trends in heat usage in kWh/building, and year for various types of buildings over the period. Other studies on how trends for heating usage in buildings have report heating usage in kWh/(m2,year). It wasn’t possible in this work to get data of the size of each building, which means that it’s not possible to compare the result from this study with other studies. However, assuming that the building area have been the same and that no extensions of the buildings have been done during the period, the trend in changed heat use should be the same, unless the result is presented in kWh/m2, year and kWh/building, year. The overall results show that there is a reduction in energy use in the buildings in Borlänge during the period 1998-2018. The decrease in heat use are in the order of 0.3 – 0.4 %/year, with larger decrease in multi-family houses. This is considerably less than the decrease of heat use in the buildings stock of 0.9 – 1.2 %/year reported for the entire building stock in Sweden during approximately the same period.

The aim of this thesis is to develop a new business model for district heating and cooling firms which can contribute to a stabilization of the Swedish national energy system. The business model is developed for a district heating and cooling firm and is exemplified with Fortum Heat. The theoretical investigation around the topic creates a rigid base for following qualitative empirical studies. Osterwalder’s canvas for business model generation is used together with a Casual Loop Diagram to identify a number of business opportunities which stabilizes the national energy system. One of the business opportunities is developed into a business model. The study results in a business model which offers Svenska Kraftnät an increased volume of electricity production through free capacity in CHP plants. This stabilizes the national energy system when the electricity production from renewable energy sources is low. Free capacity occurs due to more and more energy efficient buildings and investments in new production capacity. Heat from the electricity production is loaded into thermal storages to cover a part of the future need for heat. Heat can also be rejected as surplus heat into water if the demand for electricity is high. Renewable biofuels turn CHP plants into bio-condensing electricity power plants. A general exemplification of this situation at Fortum Heat shows positive economical results. Producing electricity independently of the current demand of heat makes it possible for Fortum Heat to be a part of Svenska Kraftnät commercialization of the power reserve. A finalizing discussion highlights aspects needed to be considered when implementing the business model at Fortum Heat.

Absorption cooling system driven by district heating network is relized as a smart strategy in Sweden. During summer time when the heating demand is low, the excessive hot water can be directly sold to drive absorption chillers instead of decreasing its production. In addition, this is also one answer to satisfy the cooling demand in more environmentally way since currently only around 26% of cooling demand in Sweden is satisfied by district cooling, the rest is fulfilled by individual air conditioning. Realizing this potential, the purpose of this study is to examine the returning hot water temperature in the district heating network with supply temperature of 70°C and also the effect to the absorption chiller’s COP. Through the simulation result, it is found out that the lowest possible returning water temperature is 55 °C at COP 0,69 with heat rejection (re-cooling) temperature water at 22 °C. This implies that the desired returning hot water temperature of 47 °C cannot be achieved. The lower returning hot water temperature is preferable since it gives the district heating network benefit in term of less distribution pump work, and energy recovery for the condensation process at central heating plant.

The report investigates the feasibility of accessing waste heat at kiln 7 in the Cementa AB cement plant in Slite, Gotland. The background is provided, with a description of the cement manufacturing process. Most of the report concerns itself with the heat transfer capabilities of the plant, therefore a short description of the heat flow within the most essential equipment is provided. The investigation follows a set of steps to derive the conclusion. The first step investigates previous studies to obtain the three most feasible heat sources. The second step investigates the available heat of the selected sources. In the third step, accessing the source is discussed and investigated for both convection and radiation heat transfer methods. It also includes the sizing of the required heat exchangers. Using the new sources, the connection possibilities to existing infrastructure and its benefits are investigated in step four. The connections were made to the existing infrastructure used at kiln 8 for electrical generation and district heating supply. The selections of the most feasible solutions are provided based on heat recovery, payback period and practicality. The final step in the study provides for the final design, which consists of three possible connections or all of them combined. In the conclusion, the final design would provide for a reduction in oil burned, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions and an increase in electricity generated by the existing system. It is recommended that only one of the three connections be installed. / <p>The thesis was conducted at Cementa AB in Slite, Gotland. The supervisor at the plant was Fred Grönwall.</p>

Due to an increasing awareness of the importance of sustainable energy use, multi-objective optimization problems for upper-level energy systems are continually being developed and improved. This paper focuses on the modeling and optimization of the Helsinki district heating system and establishing the basis for modeling the Finnish power network. The optimization of the district heating system is conducted for a twenty four hour winter demand period. Partial load behavior of the generators is included by introducing non-linear functions for costs, emissions, and the exergetic efficiency. A fuel cost sensitivity analysis is conducted on the system by considering ten combinations of fuel costs based on high, medium, and low prices for each fuel. The solution sets, called Pareto fronts, are evaluated by post-processing techniques in order to determine the best solution from the optimal set. Because units between some of objective functions are non-commensurable, objective values are normalized and weighted. The results indicate that for today\'s fuel prices the best solution includes a dominating usage of natural gas technologies, while if the price of natural gas is higher than other fuels, natural gas technologies are often not included in the best solution. All of the necessary costs, emissions, and operating information is provided for the the Finnish power network in order to employ a multi-objective optimization on the system. / Master of Science

The circular economy model has been proposed as a possible strategy for sustainable development in urban areas, implying that its core principles need to be cascaded down to various sectors, including the energy sector. District heating and cooling systems have great potential to enhance circularity on an urban level due to the establishment of synergies between different sectors, the incorporation of renewable energy sources and high efficiency. Indicator-based frameworks are valuable tools for monitoring the transition toward a circular economy. However, no framework to assess circularity in district heating and cooling systems was found. Thus, this study addresses this gap by reviewing currently available indicators used to assess district heating and cooling systems and understanding to what extent they reflect circular economy principles. For this purpose, 27 papers with 271 indicators were assessed against defined criteria related to the circular economy principles. These criteria included transparency, stakeholder engagement, effective communication, ability to track temporal changes, applicability, alignment with circular economy principles, validity and relevance to sustainable development. Afterwards, 89 indicators were selected and classified based on the 10R principle framework. The assessment revealed that the assessed papers cover a wide range of topics and assessment types and that none of the assessed papers fulfils all of the assessment criteria. Moreover, most of the identified indicators connect to the environmental and economic pillars of sustainable development, and the identified indicators focus primarily on the R principles of Reduce and Recover. This study laid the foundation for further research on the relationship between district heating and cooling systems and the circular economy by identifying the understudied areas and highlighting the need to develop tailored indicators to measure circularity in these systems.

One of the great challenges facing society is to convert theglobal energy system to a sustainable process. Currently, 80%of the world´s energy is supplied through the combustionof fossil fuels. Not only are the fossil resources limited, theutilisation also increases the level of greenhouse gases in theatmosphere. The convertion to a sustainable energy system isproblematic since the technology needed to exploit mostnon-fossil energy sources is not yet fully developed, e.g.solar energy. Biofuel is an available renewable energy sourcewhich is already widely used in many countries. If an effectiveswitch-over from fossil fuels to biofuels is to be realised,biofuels must be viewed as a limited resource. Consequently, itis important that the handling, upgrading and utilisationprocesses involving biofuels are efficient so that itspotential can be fully exploited. This thesis considers efficient biofuel utilisation andupgrading within the sawmill industry. The goal has been toanalyse not only the technical opportunities for energy savingsin the sawmill industry, but also to analyse the costeffectiveness and environmental impact of studied measures. Theheat demand of the sawmill industry is almost completelycovered by its own by-products; primarily bark, sawdust andwood chips. The increased demand and improved economic value ofwoody biofuels on the market is thus an incentive for thesawmill industry to place more focus on energy issues. Thesawmill industry also has a more or less constant heat loadover the year, which is a beneficial factor for integrationwith district heating networks, biofuel upgrading plants andcombined heat and power plants. The conclusion of the study is that a variety of energyproducts such as heat, unrefined biofuel, pellets andelectricity can be efficiently produced in the sawmill industryand sold for profit to external customers. The payback periodsfor the proposed investments are moderate and both theemissions of volatile organic compounds and global CO2 aredecreased. Should the proposed measures be fully implemented atSwedish sawmills, about 2.8 TWh of biofuel could be savedannually, 0.5 TWh of waste heat could be sold as districtheating and 0.8 TWh of green electricity could be produced.Language: English Keywords:Sawmill industry, energy efficiency, heatrecovery, integration, biofuel, upgrading, district heating,fuel pellets, CHP, VOC, CO2

Nowadays continuous increase of energy consumption increases the importance of replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources so the CO2 emissions can be reduced. To use the energy in a more efficient way is also favorable for this purpose. Thermal Energy Storage (TES) is a technology that can make use of waste heat, which means that it can help energy systems to reduce the CO2 emissions and improve the overall efficiency. In this technology an appropriate material is chosen to store the thermal energy so it can be stored for later use. The energy can be stored as sensible heat and latent heat. To achieve a high energy storage density it is convenient to use latent heat based TES. The materials used in this kind of storage system are called Phase Change Materials (PCM) and it is its ability of absorbing and releasing thermal energy during the phase change process that becomes very useful. In this thesis a simulation model for a system of thermal energy transportation has been developed. The background comes from district heating systems ability of using surplus heat from industrials and large scale power plants. The idea is to implement transportation of heat by trucks closer to the demand instead of distributing heat through very long pipes. The heat is then charged into containers that are integrated with PCM and heat exchangers. A mathematical model has been created in Matlab to simulate the system dynamics of the logistics of the thermal energy transport system. The model considers three main parameters: percentage content of PCM in the containers, annual heat demand and transport distance. How the system is affected when these three parameters varies is important to visualize. The simulation model is very useful for investigation of the economic and environmental capability of the proposed thermal energy transportation system. Simulations for different scenarios show some expected results. But there are also some findings that are more interesting, for instance how the variation of content of PCM gives irregular variation of how many truck the system requires, and its impact on the economic aspect. Results also show that cost for transporting the heat per unit of thermal energy can be much high for a small demands compared to larger demands.