Solar District Heating – A Key Technology for Decarbonization?
How much district heating makes sense in an urban environment? Are there upper, but perhaps also lower limits for its sensible use? Would district heating even be suitable for rural areas? What are the prospects for solar district heating, and what about "efficiency first"?
The presentation will provide an overview of current and expected future developments in the area of trade-off between district heating, efficiency and solar technology.
Speakers
Prof. Klaus Vajen
Prof. Klaus Vajen served as ISES President from 2020-2024. He is Director of the Institute of Thermal Engineering at the University of Kassel, Germany, where he holds the Chair of Solar- and Systems Engineering, and furthermore distinguished Professor of the Technical University of Kyrgyzstan in Bishkek. He holds a PhD in applied physics and is (co-)author of 300+ publications about (solar) thermal engineering, university education and energy policy. He is Founder and Director of the MSc-programme “Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency” at the University of Kassel, as well as Founder and Head of the council “University Educations on Renewable Energies” with 150+ professors from German speaking countries. .
Klaus was member of the ISES Board of Directors from 2003-2011 and is a member again since 2018. He was Vice-president of ISES 2006-2007, Co-Founder of Young ISES as well as Chair of the Solar World Congress 2011 and of the EuroSun 2022, both in Kassel.