TCology - Thermo-Chemical Network Ecology
Case study and technology potentials
At a glance
- Project leader : Prof. Dr. Luca Baldini
- Project team : Raphael Nino Baumann, Prof. Dr. Thomas Bergmann, Serena Danesi, Juan Camilo Mahecha Zambrano, Dr. Matthias Speich
- Project budget : CHF 158'840
- Project status : ongoing
- Funding partner : Federal government (Bundesamt für Energie BFE / Swiss Federal Office of Energy SFOE)
- Contact person : Luca Baldini
Description
The research project TCology is addressing the novel topic of thermochemical networks (TCN) for heat and cold generation, distribution and storage and aims at identifying suitability and applicability to the Swiss context. In comparison to classical hydronic district heating and cooling networks (DHCN), TCNs show a great potential for higher energy efficiency in district heating and cooling and integration of renewables through lossless, long-term thermal energy storage at significantly larger storage densities compared to their sensible counterparts.
The project strives for the definition of a "network ecology", i.e. the ecosystem of TCNs, including various terminal applications for heating, cooling and dehumidification, exploring both, the technical as well as the socio-economic sphere. Specifically, the project aims at identifying major potentials of TCNs and understanding and defining conditions under which they are most competitive with reference to hydronic DHCNs.