Unstandardized standards: the making of demand in district-heating projects in France

Guilhem Blanchard (1)

1 LATTS - Laboratoire Techniques, Territoires et Sociétés

Thanks to their efficiency, their capacity to exploit local energy sources and the adaptability of their energy mix, district-heating solutions are nowadays amongst the preferred options to supply heat to urban areas in Europe. As for all grid-based systems, estimating future consumption is an important issue for the development of heating networks. In French district heating projects, however, the numerous demand assessments that are produced at various stages of the design process comply with divergent calculation standards. Drawing on an extensive empirical work on energy design in urban development projects, this paper therefore explores the following questions: - What does explain both the diversity and the divergence of calculation standards for future heating demand? - What are the consequences of this dissonance between standards for district-heating systems and projects? - Why do these standards remain unquestioned?

Keywords: urban development; energy demand; district heating; design process

Keywords: aménagement urbain; demande en énergie; chauffage urbain; processus de conception

Domains: Architecture, space management; Environmental studies

Guilhem Blanchard. Unstandardized standards: the making of demand in district-heating projects in France. What energy is for: the making and dynamics of demand, DEMAND Centre, Lancaster University, Apr 2016, Lancaster, United Kingdom. ⟨hal-01308675⟩