Time to Commit to Low Temperatures

摘要

As long as I have been associated with IDEA, members have argued for and against steam, high-temperature water (above 350 degrees F), medium-temperature water (250-350 F) and low-temperature water (180-250 F) as distribution media for district heating. We can look back on our industry's history and assume that the first district heating systems were steam, because that was the common heating process for buildings in the late 1800s. Steam was an easy way to connect to buildings from a distribution system, and steam boilers were a well-understood technology that could be upsized for central power generation and steam supply to district systems.