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The imperative to reduce emissions to counteract climate change has led to the use of renewables progressively in more areas. Looking at district heating, there is a growing interest in coupling current production systems and carbon-neutral technologies. This paper presents a methodology to support decision making about carbon-neutral technologies for district heating. The process is organized in two stages, the first one aims at optimizing the different carbon-neutral technologies according to an objective function and assess uncertainties and dependencies. In the second stage, the alternatives are evaluated using Stochastic Multicriteria Acceptability Analysis (SMAA), a simulation-based method specifically designed to consider imprecise information. The methodology was applied to a case-study in Torino, Italy, which simulates the city district heating network at a smaller scale, with the aim to explore strategies for replacing gas boiler with more sustainable technologies. According to preference information provided by decision makers, the most preferred alternative resulted in the introduction of a solar heat plant combined with an increase size of daily heat storage. Solar heat can benefit from incentives while reducing operational costs and emissions, maximizing the use of carbon-neutral heat thanks to the storage.

Low temperature district heating has significant advantages in energy efficiency, but a huge amount of existing radiators lack the capabilities for low-temperate heating. The innovation of this study is to develop an optimal and techno-economic method to improve the heating power of existing radiator by mounting a small fan considering different hydraulic connection modes. An experimental test rig was designed to study the optimal installation positions and angles of the fan. For a dormitory room in China, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed and verified. The model was used to determine the lowest supply temperature of the radiator. Results show that the fan should be placed in a position and angle that blows air over the hottest surface of the radiator i.e. the hot center. The lowest supply temperatures before and after installing the fan are 42.3 °C and 39.5 °C. The response speed is increased by 28%, stability time is shortened by 13%, while the maximum indoor temperature difference is reduced by 15% and the maximum indoor air velocity is reduced by 0.07 m/s. Payback time is 63 days for case study, indicating a good economic feasibility. The method is beneficial to both the heat plant and users. • A small forced convection fan is proposed to improve traditional radiators for DH. • The optimal installation position and blowing angle of the fan are obtained. • Supply water temperature can be reduced using the forced convection radiator. • The forced convection radiator is good for both heat plant and users. • Surface temperature of the new radiator is more even and response time is shorter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]