District Heating and Cooling for Energy Conservation

Absrtact
Despite continued advocacy since the turn of the century, there has been negligible adoption of combined heat and power (CHP) for district heating (DH) in Britain. This paper summarises the treatment of the option and suggests a framework for explanation. The long neglect of CHP/DH can be explained neither as the result of a conspiracy among existing energy institutions, nor in terms of an unfavourable but rational assessment of its economic potential. It requires instead a historical and structural analysis of the context: the energy sector and its broader social and economic role. The activity on CHP/DH that can be traced must be situated in the development and relations of key organisations - the electricity industry and central and local government. The paper thus addresses both the apolitical and technocratic character of much energy policy writing, and acontextual accounts developed in certain recent contributions to a 'new sociology of technology'.
Introduction
It is...