District cooling and its impact on environment, health and building architecture

Advantages with a centralized cooling system, so called district cooling, are shown by the means of collecting and analyzing published information combined with our own experiences. Focus is laid on topics related to environment, health and buildings. Impacts on urban heating islands, Legionnaires' disease, building space & installations, electric power supply and water consumption are discussed. District cooling is not only another way to generate air conditioning; it represents a completely new infrastructure for the society. It can contribute to reduce greenhouse gasses, ease the stress on power generation & distribution as well as create a comfortable and healthy climate in an economic way. To make a fair evaluation of the district cooling technique one must consider all aspects on impacts and costs for all involved. Depending on the local pricing principle this is not always the case. It is vital that regional and state authorities observe this and take adequate actions.