Sustainable energy heritage
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Sustainability challenges are also present in heritage care, where a growing number of actors are realizing applications in energy efficiency, insulation and circularity. However, heritage buildings also present particular obstacles in making heat demand sustainable. Together with the city of Diest and the heritage foundation of Flemisg-Brabant, we are working within an innovation grant from the province of Flemish Brabant on a vision to maximize the use of green heat sources within heritage buildings using various tools.
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Sustainability challenges are also present in heritage care, where a growing number of actors are realizing applications in energy efficiency, insulation and circularity. However, heritage buildings also present particular obstacles in making heat demand sustainable. Together with the city of Diest and the heritage foundation of Flemisg-Brabant, we are working within an innovation grant from the province of Flemish Brabant on a vision to maximize the use of green heat sources within heritage buildings using various tools.
This project aims to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of renewable heat sources within the heritage context. This will be done through the elaboration of the following activities that will allow an efficient and specific evaluation for each heritage building in the future.
- Development of a generic multi-energy source configurator and TCO analyser
- Inventory of (existing) technical solutions within the heritage sector
- Structurally increase the knowledge of the project partners
- Actively disseminate and consolidate the project results to the broad heritage sector
Based on the developed tools and inventory of technical solutions, a case study will be developed for the Citadel in Diest. The Citadel is uniquely situated in terms of sustainable heat: the old Demer arm lends itself to aquathermal energy, the proximity of a large Aquafin collector lends itself to sewage heat recovery and the ground is extremely suitable for geothermal energy. From September to November 2023, a potential scan was conducted by Heritage Flemish-Brabant, Stad Diest, EXTRAQT and IFTech, in collaboration with the Spatial Planning and Leisure services of the province of Flemish Brabant, VMM, the Flemish Waterway and Aquafin. The first results are extremely encouraging: almost 1 MWh of renewable energy can be generated - that is the equivalent of about 1,000 homes. We now want to translate this into a technical design, so that it can be realized in the development of the Citadel and serve as a tangible practical example for other heritage sites.
This project aims to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of renewable heat sources within the heritage context. This will be done through the elaboration of the following activities that will allow an efficient and specific evaluation for each heritage building in the future.
- Development of a generic multi-energy source configurator and TCO analyser
- Inventory of (existing) technical solutions within the heritage sector
- Structurally increase the knowledge of the project partners
- Actively disseminate and consolidate the project results to the broad heritage sector
Based on the developed tools and inventory of technical solutions, a case study will be developed for the Citadel in Diest. The Citadel is uniquely situated in terms of sustainable heat: the old Demer arm lends itself to aquathermal energy, the proximity of a large Aquafin collector lends itself to sewage heat recovery and the ground is extremely suitable for geothermal energy. From September to November 2023, a potential scan was conducted by Heritage Flemish-Brabant, Stad Diest, EXTRAQT and IFTech, in collaboration with the Spatial Planning and Leisure services of the province of Flemish Brabant, VMM, the Flemish Waterway and Aquafin. The first results are extremely encouraging: almost 1 MWh of renewable energy can be generated - that is the equivalent of about 1,000 homes. We now want to translate this into a technical design, so that it can be realized in the development of the Citadel and serve as a tangible practical example for other heritage sites.
Sustainable energy heritage
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Interested in an aquathermal installation? Read more on our approach on why an aquathermal system migh be interesting for your water body!
