A critical review of District Heating and District Cooling socioeconomic and environmental Benefits

Heating energy demand accounts for almost 50% of global final energy consumption. The cooling demand is also rising, accounting for 16% of the building sector’s final electricity consumption. District heating and cooling (DH-DC) can significantly reduce overall energy consumption and CO2 emissions considering the use of green sources and new technologies. Identifying and assessing the benefits generated by DH-DC is crucial for supporting policymakers and driving sustainable financing. This paper aims to identify and categorise DH-DC benefits through a literature review focusing on methods to assess them. In this review, 35 research works have been considered and analysed. Benefits identified in the literature broke down into four categories: benefits for the energy system, end-users, environment, and society. Benefits are well recognised in the literature; however, most studies focused on qualitative analysis with a low impact on DH-DC project assessment. Results will be used to design a new integrated assessment framework.