The Upgrade DH project will support and initiate the upgrading process of eight district heating demo cases in Europe in the following countries: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Denmark, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, and The Netherlands and will provide the basis for replication to other cities.

Core activities of the Upgrade DH project include the collection of the best practice project examples of recently retrofitted DH networks and best practice instruments/tools to diagnosing and retrofitting networks. Innovative business and organisational models will be applied, the upgrading process for selected district heating networks will be supported, the organisation of capacity building measures about district heating upgrading, financing and business models will be organised, and national and regional action plans will be elaborated.

UpgradeDH is launching an image raising campaign to promote modern district heating networks. The campaign aims to improve the perception of district heating at local level, thus establishing district heating as a viable solution for the energy transition, in the minds of citizens. This will be carried out through different visual communication activities. First, a brochure “District Heating and Cooling. A modern solution to traditional challenges" (see attachment) which describes in simple terms what is district heating, its features and operating principles, and the benefits of implementing district heating at local, national and global levels.

Second, an animation video entitled “Decarbonising DHC For Our Cities”, in order to get a clear vision and simple explanation of what the project is about (available in many European languages to reach as much audience as possible). Third, a social media campaign #DHCitizen in order to raise awareness and interest among the general public.

Here you can find information on DHC, as well as its role in decarbonising our cities. In addition, it highlights examples of decarbonisation success stories thought an integrated #DHCities map.