Skip to content

News

District heating

Geothermal energy

Photovoltaics

+1

Danfoss in Dialogue with Munich to Cut CO2 Emissions in Half

image
14 February 2013

Munich is one of the few cities in the world that has taken global warming by the horns. One of Munich’s new environmental goals is to become the first large German city with a district heating system powered completely by renewable energy.

The new 9-billion Euro investment program is initiated by the municipal utility company Stadtwerke München. 

It is an ambitious project, with plans to supply 140,000 apartments with heat and, at the same time, save 300,000 tons of CO2 that would have been generated by conventional heating methods. Danfoss is engaged in a dialogue with Munich about the project. 

Setting the standard with renewable energy

One way the city is hoping to turn this vision into reality is by making use of a previously untapped renewable energy source – geothermal. 

The city is ideally located in the Bavarian Molasse basin, a huge underground reservoir of hot water with temperatures ranging from 80 to 140 °C roughly 3,000 meters below the surface. 

Recent surveys show that the city has the potential for 16 geothermic wells and as a typical geothermal station can supply about 45,000 MWh of heat a year Munich’s quest for a fully sustainable district heating system is clearly not just a pipe dream.

Renewables incorporated in the grid

To feed its district heating system, Munich has also started using photovoltaic technology as another energy source. Photovoltaic technology is expected to play an increasing role moving forward.

Munich has already introduced many green initiatives over the past few decades to reduce waste and make better use of its energy infrastructure, including renewables. 

For example, Stadtwerke München generates enough renewable electricity to power the city’s metro, trams and 800,000 private households; residents are encouraged to use either bicycles or electric vehicles (solar powered recharging points are found in many car parks); housing developers must adhere to strict ecological criteria and old municipal buildings must be renovated to an energy efficiency standard that is 30% stricter than the German federal standard. 

Stadtwerke München works closely with Danfoss in Brussels to help ensure the development of a robust regulatory framework that allows district energy's role in making the switch to a more sustainable energy model to be fully exploited.

A district heating system to be proud of

Munich also boasts one of the largest and most effective district heating systems in Europe. The network uses over 800 km of insulated pipes to distribute environmentally friendly heat throughout the city, powered by 4 billion kWh of annual waste energy from Munich’s power plants. 

It’s a highly efficient system; to put it in perspective, generating the same amount of heat energy using oil-powered household heating systems would require 450 million liters of heating oil, which would release approximately 1.1 million tons of CO2 into the air. This is equivalent to the amount generated by all of Munich’s automobile traffic in a year. 

Source: www.danfoss.com

You should consider reading

District heating
Geothermal energy
Photovoltaics
Waste-to-energy

News

Living labs

+61

Danish companies obtain the most green patents

16 January 2023
Known to be among the globe's most sustainable, Danish companies are number one in obtaining green patents in both Europe and the US over the past ten years.

News

Job creation and transition

+101

Sound of Green, a podcast series with insights from Denmark’s green transition

27 January 2023
From managing cloudbursts to setting up climate partnerships, we examine how Denmark has turned acute climate challenges into new opportunities. In our podcast series Sound of Green, experts convey how Danish experiences can push the needle toward global green transition. Find it on Spotify, Apple Podcast and stateofgreen.com.

News

Green financing

+101

New Danish models assess the economic and fiscal impacts of climate policies

31 January 2023
Economists from the University of Copenhagen have developed green models to calculate environmental and climate effects on Denmark's entire economy. The models can have a major impact on how we view and measure economic growth and green transition worldwide.

News

Climate change adaptation

+34

Danes are European champions in applying for green patents

15 August 2023
Almost every fifth Danish patent application is green, which ensures Denmark a European top position in green innovation.