P4
FOCUS 40 YEARS
By Lars Gullev, Managing Director, VEKS, and former Chairman of DBDH
North American market, where the possibilities for increased focus on the use of district heating and energy efficiency were high. In the energy sector in Denmark, it was well-known that if you produced electricity alone, you only got an energy efficiency of around 40%, but if you connected heat generation to the production, the utility would rise to 80-85%. However, according to a Gallup survey in the US, more than 50% of the population had never heard of the energy crises in 1973 and 1979. "Within the next 10 years, there will be a fantastic market for district heating in the world, and the Danes must therefore make an effort to inform others that we have one of the most highly developed district heating systems and thus the industry and
We are back in the 1970s - in the period between the two energy crises in 1973 and 1979 which affected Europe as a result of wars in the Middle East – more precisely in June 1978. We are in H.C. Andersen's home town Odense, Denmark. A true adventure, as if written by Hans Christian Andersen, begins. THE BEGINNING In the summer of 1978, 16 Danish companies - among these several of the major actors in district heating, such as Bruun & Sørensen (subsequently purchased by COWI), Rambøll, JIP Valves (subsequently purchased by Danfoss) and Danfoss - decide to set up Dansk Fjernvarmes Eksportråd. Being an export association, it is only natural that the association also gets an English name - Danish Board of District Heating or, in short, DBDH.
know-how which other countries may benefit from”, was the conviction of DBDH's Chairman at the time Mogens Larsen. Already the following year, however, in 1979, came a request from the Germans. The association of German district heating plants convened in Flensburg. This afforded theconference participants the opportunity of a site visit in Denmark, where especially the district heating systems in Sønderborg and Odense were of great interest, as district heating systems in both cities were based on efficient co-generation of electricity and heating - CHP. DBDH had a tremendous beginning, which was due in part to significant political support from among others Foreign Minister Henning Christophersen (later vice president of
The person behind the formation of DBDH was Lennart Larsson, at the time alderman in Odense, who was chairman of Dansk Fjernvarme (the Danish District Heating Association) in the period 1974-1992. DBDH was established based on Denmark's high level and many years of experience in district heating. Indeed, the Danish experience in district heating - including waste incineration and combined production of electricity and heat (CHP) - can be traced back 75 years. All the way back to 1903, when the first "waste-to energy" CHP plant was built. Now this experience was being brought to the rest of those parts of the world where there was a need for the heating of buildings, but also a need to focus on efficient use of resources.
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the European Commission from1985-1995). A beginning which meant participation in conferences in many different countries as well as handling inquiries from countries like Holland, Canada, USA, Japan, Belgium, Norway, England and Ireland.
DBDH wished to systematise the Danish export of district heating components and consultancy - and a number of Danish district heating companies were to contribute as a showroom for the results. One of the first markets being focused on was the
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