Joint Centre for Research and Engineering Established in China to Accelerate District Energy Implementation

District Energy in Cities is partnering with one of the leading educational institutions in China, the South China University of Technology (SCUT), to set up a joint centre for district energy technical research and engineering applications.

SCUT is a public research-intensive university directly governed by the Chinese Ministry of Education. As one of the top Chinese universities in the fields of architecture and engineering, SCUT has the State Key laboratory of Subtropical Building Science for academic research and the A-level Architectural Design Institute for engineering applications.

The district energy studio under the Institute has been active in China and surrounding regions and countries since 2002. By 2017, they had developed, consulted and designed more than 40 district heating/cooling or CCHP projects in China, which supply energy for over 100 million square meters of diverse urban environments.

The joint centre will work closely with the Initiative to support further development of district energy systems, including but not limited to district heating and cooling, green building and building energy efficiency in China and neighbouring regions. The joint centre will be formed by a joint team of SCUT researchers and experts of UN Environment’s DES Initiative.

The joint centre will:

• adapt methodologies and guidelines developed by the DES Initiative to the Chinese and regional context.
• publish joint publications on topics such as the Chinese district energy market and Building efficiency and district energy best practices.
• provide technical support to reports, standards, publications and project developments under UN Environment DES Initiative.