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- Report n°1: The new constraints of urban development
Report n°1: The new constraints of urban development
Energy services
District heating networks are very well suited to the high densities of apartment blocks. They also allow energy sources to be employed that are otherwise difficult to use. Thus, increased accommodation in single-family houses may eventually jeopardise this activity, particularly in eastern countries where it is strongly developed. Furthermore, assuming equivalent space, a detached house is considered to consume three times as much energy as an apartment, in terms of heating. The energy market for single-family houses would therefore be very substantial.
We could consequently envisage localised energy production as close as possible to the user, whether for example through a fuel cell, a heating system that works by solar or geothermic energy, etc., or from an energy source transported via a network, such as gas. This would make it unnecessary to create a network for supplying dwellings with energy or would allow the possibility of creating just one, instead of the two currently used (one for electricity and another for a different energy source), which would considerably reduce the infrastructure costs.
Another approach would be to develop heating networks from a small unit capable of supplying a district and thus adapted to the structure of the housing development. Several units functioning with different inter-linked energy sources could also allow the raw material costs to be optimised according to the circumstances.
Consideration must also be given to the acceptable density levels that would enable a profitable heating network to be established. The development of mini-networks originating from the central generator in a public building, or even a commercial building, and which would extend to a surrounding district is particularly interesting. Creating interactions between industry and the neighbouring areas could also be envisaged, but would be more uncertain, as industries suffer the impact of economic conditions in the short term.
Lastly, as the individualisation of ways of life and of services appears to be a general trend, one may expect to find a strong demand for personalised billing within apartment blocks.
In any case, the question of supplying dwellings with energy and more specifically with heating must be tackled very early on in the urbanisation process, in particular when a decision is made regarding the construction of housing developments where semi-collective systems may be envisaged.