The third Nordic-Irish Partnership event on Smart Cities focuses on the role of district heating in the energy transition and decarbonising heat across the island of Ireland and the four Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Sustainable innovation and smart solutions are essential to tackle the pressing issues of global climate change. In the EU, the energy used for heating and cooling constitutes the largest share of overall energy demand. A shift towards efficient, low-carbon heat sources is needed to reduce energy consumption in Europe. Due to the cold climate in the Nordic countries, heating has always been high on the agenda and much effort has gone into making it more efficient. District heating is today considered common practice in the Nordics and it has played a significant role in the countries’ heat decarbonisation.

Since district heating is not dependent on a specific singular source of fuel, it supports the future-proofing of cities’ heat grids. In fact, it converts heat from being a problem to being a resource by making surplus energy valuable, while reducing the need to burn fossil fuels and emit greenhouse gases. In Ireland, for instance, there is considerable potential to use excess heat from data centres for district heating.

Innovative district heating systems have already disrupted the traditional supplies of heat in many parts of Europe, and the stage is set for the same transition to take place in Ireland.

The topic of the webinar is smart solutions for district heating with a focus on energy transition and the decarbonisation of heat with the intent to give an introduction to district heating in the Nordics and Ireland. This is a free webinar.

Speakers include:

• Donna Gartland, Codema & Irish District Energy Association
• Morten Jordt Duedahl, Danish Board of District Heating
• Kari Lahti, Fortum (Finland)
• Trygve Mellvang Tomren-Berg, Norwegian District Energy Association
• Sustainable Heating & Cooling by Sweden (speaker TBC)

Register for the webinar here: https://bit.ly/3bp1tKp