District Cooling — Basics

District cooling supplies chilled water from a central plant to multiple buildings via a pipe network. It enables high‑efficiency chillers, thermal storage and waste‑heat/renewables integration at scale.

Why it can be efficient

• Diverse load profiles across buildings smooth peaks
• Larger chillers with better COPs and heat rejection
• Centralized maintenance and flexibility assets

Planning considerations

• Anchor loads (hospitals, data centers, campuses)
• Pipe routing and street works coordination
• Redundancy and resilience for critical users

References

1. Euroheat & Power — District Cooling overview
2. UNEP — District Energy in Cities