Decarbonizing the heating supply of an urban district in Kazakhstan

A major contribution to our society’s environmental impact lies in meeting the energy needs of buildings, specifically in areas where the supply of such commodities is based on high carbon-emitting fossil fuels (oil/coal). This study analyses a mixed-use urban district situated in Kazakhstan. The district features a set of households together with three schools, a hospital, and several office buildings. The heating energy needs of the city are currently entirely met by coal-fired solutions; thus, this study wishes to investigate the feasibility of novel more sustainable technological approaches. A set of scenarios is modeled by means of the EnergyPLAN analysis tool where the technical feasibility of a district heating network is analyzed in combination with both greener fossil fired solutions and renewables.