Solar District Heating versus Renovation of Buildings as Measures for Decarbonization of Heat Supply in Rural Areas
Abstract
In this study two different decarbonization strategies for rural heat supply are compared on the example of 130 buildings in a German village. The comparison shows that a solar district heating system with a solar fraction of 70% leads to similar heating costs as a profound energy efficient renovation of most buildings using decentralised air heat pumps. Both concepts aim to achieve a reduction in operational CO2 emissions of around 80% compared to the current state. However, while the solar district heating system can probably be realized within a few years and therefore achieves 80% CO2 savings promptly, renovating the building stock with the implementation of heat pumps would take decades due to low renovation rates. Reaching a climate-neutral heat supply could thus be accelerated significantly through the construction of solar district heating systems, but it should be noted that not the same thermal comfort as with profound energy efficient building renovation is achieved.