Local heating

The illustration shows a local heating system consisting of a boiler and a system of pipes that serves four single-family houses.

Illustration: Bo Reinerdahl

If a district heating system is not available in your district, you presumably have your own heating system in your house. An alternative to district heating would be to build a small district heating plant together with your neighbours, which is known as local heating or joint heating.

The differences compared to conventional district heating are not very large. The local heating system also includes a network of pipes and a common boiler plant that delivers heat through the pipework to the single-family houses.

Two or more single-family houses

A local heating plant involves a number of home owners getting together and replacing their individual heating systems with a jointly owned heating plant. Depending on the conditions, a local heating plant may be appropriate for anything from two single-family houses to entire districts with hundreds of houses, or even more.

Common in the 1960s and 1970s

When single-family houses or terraced houses were built in the 1960s and 1970s, it was usual for these to be supplied with heat from a local heating plant. New fuels and new technology for combustion, laying of pipes, etc. continue to make local heating systems of interest to existing single-family houses.