Advantages of coupling a woody biomass cogeneration plant with a district heating network for a sustainable built environment: a case study in Luserna San Giovanni (Torino, Italy).

One of the key strategies towards the European goals is the exploitation of local and renewable energy sources: the paper analyses the benefits and the feasibility of a woody biomass cogeneration plant in Luserna San Giovanni (Torino, Italy). The first part of the paper presents a graphical method to evaluate the thermal energy use of public and residential buildings. Then, after the selection of the buildings with both higher energy consumption and higher specific energy consumption, a thermal analysis allows the assessment of energy savings potential of these buildings. The results of this first analysis permit to estimate the effective and peak power of the plant considering different scenarios of buildings' renovation and then of heat distribution. The second part of the paper describes the pre-feasibility analysis of the district heating network supported by a GIS-based tool (Geographical Information System). Main results are the evaluation of the environmental and economic impacts of the biomass plant and of the connection to the district heating network on a short and long term horizon.