Towards climate-neutral homes with participatively developed district heating

ongoing

LIFE WOW is a bottom-up project that demonstrates centralised district heating in an older neighbourhood in the Netherlands, with the aim of CO2 reduction by minimising gas use. The demonstration takes place in Benedenbuurt Wageningen (460 houses) that consists mostly of houses built before the 1990s. The poor insulation of these older houses results in the inability to heat them without drastic modifications. Thus, it is a challenge to make this kind of houses energy neutral and to contribute to the EU Green Deal. The LIFE WOW objective is a CO2 reduction of > 50% (0.6 kt) in 2027 by connecting 400 houses to the district heating. All connected houses will stop the use of gas and a centralised heat pump is used to generate 86-90% of the needed heat load. This heat pump is technologically innovative by being the first electric air-to-water heatpump using ammonia on this scale. LIFE WOW will then optimise the system to reduce an additional 0.1 kt CO2 by 2030, and an additional 0.2 kt CO2 by 2033, leading to a total reduction of > 80% (from 1.1 kt to 0.2 kt). Uniquely, local residents are fully involved in the entire process of development and operation. This includes being part of the district heating company to ensure a not-for-profit, quality district heating. As most district heatings in the EU are commercial and encounter resistance from inhabitants, LIFE WOW is a pioneering project that paves the way for future energy initiatives. Blueprints of the innovative technical, organisational, and judicial aspects of LIFE WOW give this further impetus, and activities are also replicated in Heusden (NL) and Geldern (DE). In 2016 Benedenbuurt residents started the first preparations, and now the actual demonstration can happen with huge replication potential. In many EU countries there are millions of houses with similar insulation properties as the Benedenbuurt, incl. 5 million in the Netherlands. LIFE WOW is thus a leading project in making houses energy neutral.