District Heating and Cooling

Municipal officials around the world are becoming more interested in local energy generation as a way to solve the mounting economic, social, and ecological concerns they are experiencing. A tried-and-true method for fulfilling this demand is district energy.

Natural Refrigerant heat pumps for district heating and cooling
District heating and cooling, and heat pumps play a significant role in energy systems. Heat pumps are expected to become more prevalent in district heating systems since they can deliver heat with higher efficiency and connect the heating and electricity sectors by using renewable energy sources. It allows for the entire energy system to be decarbonized.

Heat pumps are powered by refrigerants and the refrigerants themselves contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Within the refrigerant industry, there is a push towards phasing out refrigerants that contribute to global warming and an inclination toward natural refrigerants. Natural or non-synthetic refrigerants, like Ammonia and CO2, are naturally occurring and can be found in nature. The metric used to measure the global warming effect of refrigerants is called Global Warming Potential (GWP). The GWP of natural refrigerants ranges from 1 to 0, while that of non-natural/synthetic refrigerants is in the thousands. At CIMCO, we design and install heat pumps that use natural refrigerants, namely ammonia and CO2.

A nature-based solution
A heat pump that runs on natural refrigerant is a future-proof, regulatory-compliant solution. Natural refrigerants such as ammonia (R717) and CO2 (R744) are nature-based solutions with zero or near zero ozone depletion and global warming potential.

The main energy source for a heat pump is electricity, and when electricity is generated from renewable sources and a heat pump running on natural refrigerants is used, communities have an absolute opportunity to decarbonize buildings and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

• CIMCO Heat pumps run on electricity and do not burn natural gas which means no greenhouse gas emissions.

• When powered by a natural refrigerant like Ammonia or CO2, it becomes an absolute future-proof system since both these refrigerants have no negative impact on the environment and will never be phased out by governments.

• Heat pumps can capture heat from multiple sources, including process waste heat, and turn it into usable heat, which means no waste heat is added to the atmosphere.

• As there is no combustion process, it reduces the risk of carbon monoxide leaks.