On the site of Berlin TXL, Green Urban Energy GmbH (GuE) is realizing the cooling and heating energy supply of the future. Their concept can be used as a blueprint for local sustainability in tomorrow’s urban districts.
At the heart of this concept is something called the LowEx network, a two-pipe heating and cooling network based on the exchange of low-temperature energy. This enables an active, mutual exchange of energy for heating and cooling between people who consume (consumers) and people who both produce and consume (prosumers). The energy centers on site merely balance differences between supply and demand, primarily using renewable energies.
Over the coming years, the existing heating and cooling network in the Urban Tech Republic (UTR) will be gradually converted to the LowEx network and expanded. The conversion of the existing energy centers by GuE has already begun. One of the first steps in this is the installation of smart heat meters to digitally capture meter readings.
A heat meter is a measuring device for calculating thermal energy. It measures the difference in temperature between incoming and outgoing hot water (flow and return) and uses this to calculate the actual heat consumption. The measurements are automatically sent to GuE and passed on to the FUTR HUB via an API.
This means that the data is available both for visualization and for internal evaluation by the technical department. The data collected is evaluated, processed, visualized via dashboards and subsequently used for cost control and sustainability reporting, and to increase efficiency.
