Multi-criteria Analysis of District Heating systems in Baltic States

The paper analyses the most suitable temperature regime of district heating (DH) systems for a new building and exiting dwelling building area depending on end-user thermal energy consumption. Research methodology includes algorithm with several modules. The multi-criteria analysis is used for evaluating of different DH systems and finding of optimal solution of 12 scenarios by taking into account different criteria. The TOPSIS and PROMETHEE tools are integrated to find the optimal solutions. The DH systems multi-criteria analysis is tested for climate conditions in Baltic States. The results show that optimal solutions for standard buildings are temperature regime of 90/60 or 60/30 and boiler house fuelled by wood chips. Temperature regime 60/30 in case of the energy-efficient building scenario also is close to the best solution. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.