Sustainable geothermal heating and cooling systems for future resilient cities.

The project investigates the possibilities of implementing decentralized, cooling and heating supply based on energy piles in a new urban area (Ny Rosborg) in Rosborg, Vejle. Energy piles are traditional foundation piles with embedded piping for heat exchange with the ground, serving as both heating and cooling supply for buildings. The project takes a holistic approach, in which a single energy system supplies the entire Rosborg area in similar manner as climate solutions typically are conceived and implemented. The project therefore deviates from the typical mindset of either choosing individual energy solutions for buildings or conventional district heating. In the first phase of the project, the heating/cooling potential of the Ny Rosborg area is mapped by field and laboratory investigations based on drillings, groundwater measurements and thermal testing of energy piles.

The project includes the development of an urban planning tool for designing and sizing the distribution system and energy pile foundations that builds upon and extends an ongoing industrial PhD project on the thermal performance of energy piles. Business elements such as construction and operating costs associated with energy pile-based supply relative to competing renewable solutions combined with traditional foundation piles, are documented and visualized in the project.