{"id":4669,"date":"2025-09-16T14:30:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T12:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engreen.world\/?p=4669"},"modified":"2026-03-25T15:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T14:23:10","slug":"from-fossil-fuels-to-community-energy-the-promise-of-muse-dhc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engreen.world\/en\/from-fossil-fuels-to-community-energy-the-promise-of-muse-dhc\/","title":{"rendered":"From Fossil Fuels to Community Energy: The Promise of MUSE DHC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Heating and cooling account for half of Europe\u2019s final energy demand\u2014yet more than 70% is still supplied by fossil fuels. To reach climate neutrality, Europe needs a radical shift toward clean, efficient, and community-driven solutions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MUSE DHC<\/strong> (coMmUnity-led actionS for Efficient District Heating and Cooling) is a European project funded under the LIFE-CET programme. It is designed to accelerate the spread of <strong>low-temperature, renewable-based DHC networks<\/strong>, turning communities into active drivers of the heating and cooling transition.<\/p>\n<p>MUSE DHC, coordinated by Ambiente Italia, brings together a diverse consortium of 10 organizations across Europe.<\/p>\n<p>The project develops investment plans and governance models that combine renewable energy, waste heat recovery, storage, and heat pumps with strong citizen participation. The result is a blueprint for community-led, fossil-free heating and cooling across Europe.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Learn how the project works<\/h3>\n<p>Watch the video to discover how the MUSE DHC project is bringing communities, institutions, and experts together to design a new model of efficient, renewable district heating in Coggiola.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a chance to understand the project\u2019s goals, meet the partners involved, and learn how local stakeholders can actively contribute to shaping the area\u2019s energy future.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/limgHL7ue3Y?si=MamiU-R2VH8XUpqo\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Key Objectives<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Community-Led Case Studies<br \/><\/strong>MUSE DHC designs investment plans for <strong data-start=\"221\" data-end=\"245\">9 pilot DHC networks<\/strong> across Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, and the Netherlands\u2014tailored to residential, industrial, and tertiary contexts. <strong data-start=\"364\" data-end=\"447\">EnGreen, in particular, will focus on the municipality of Coggiola (Valsessera)<\/strong>, working closely with local stakeholders to shape a community-led model for efficient, fossil-free heating and cooling.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Living Labs Engagement<br \/><\/strong>Activating 9 local Living Labs to involve citizens, municipalities, energy suppliers, and cooperatives in shaping technical choices and governance models.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Innovative Tools &amp; Digital Methods<br \/><\/strong>Applying advanced data collection, modelling, and optimization to assess feasibility, guide design, and ensure scalability.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Blueprint for Replication<br \/><\/strong>Producing strategic guidelines, roadmaps, and a final Position Paper to inform national policies and inspire replication in follower case studies across Europe.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Impact<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>MUSE DHC is more than research\u2014it\u2019s a <strong>model for Europe\u2019s clean heating future<\/strong>. By bridging technology, finance, and citizen participation, the project aims to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Trigger <strong>over \u20ac80 million in sustainable investment<\/strong> and generate <strong>83 GWh\/year of renewable energy generation<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Demonstrate community-led ownership and hybrid governance schemes<\/li>\n<li>Reduce CO\u2082 emissions, improve air quality, and create local jobs<\/li>\n<li>Provide practical pathways for municipalities to move away from fossil fuels<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>With its <strong>bottom-up approach<\/strong>, MUSE DHC empowers communities to co-design systems that are not only efficient and sustainable but also socially inclusive and economically viable.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Project Partners<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>AMBIENTE ITALIA SRL (AMBIT) &#8211; IT (Coordinator)<\/li>\n<li>COOPERATIE ENERGIE SAMEN UA (Energie Samen) \u2013 NL<\/li>\n<li>OPTIT SRL (OPTIT) \u2013 IT<\/li>\n<li>RESCOOP EU ASBL (RESC) \u2013 BE<\/li>\n<li>ENERGY CITIES\/ENERGIE-CITES ASSOCIATION (ENC) \u2013 FR<\/li>\n<li>SUNO ENGINYERIA DE SERVEIS ENERGETICS SCCLP (SUNO) \u2013 ES<\/li>\n<li>OSONA ENERGIA SCCL (OECOOP) \u2013 ES<\/li>\n<li>Bois Energie Renouvelable (SPL BER) \u2013 FR<\/li>\n<li>Claremorris and Western District Energy Co-Operative Society Limited (CWE) \u2013 IE<\/li>\n<li>ENGREEN SRL (EnGreen) \u2013 IT<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>\u00a0<\/h4>\n<h4>Total project cost<\/h4>\n<p><strong>1.8M \u20ac<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4>\u00a0<\/h4>\n<h4>Target countries<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Spain<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">France<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Ireland<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Italy<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Netherlands<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Official website: <a href=\"https:\/\/musedhc.ambienteitalia.it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/musedhc.ambienteitalia.it\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-7470\" src=\"https:\/\/engreen.world\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EN-Co-funded-by-the-EU_POS-1-300x65.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"65\" srcset=\"https:\/\/engreen.world\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EN-Co-funded-by-the-EU_POS-1-300x65.jpg 300w, https:\/\/engreen.world\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EN-Co-funded-by-the-EU_POS-1-1024x223.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/engreen.world\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EN-Co-funded-by-the-EU_POS-1-768x167.jpg 768w, https:\/\/engreen.world\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EN-Co-funded-by-the-EU_POS-1-1536x334.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/engreen.world\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EN-Co-funded-by-the-EU_POS-1-2048x446.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We present the MUSE DHC project, an EU LIFE initiative supporting community-led, efficient district heating solutions in Coggiola and across Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4690,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[168,28],"tags":[144],"media_tag":[],"class_list":["post-4669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-research-innovation","tag-projects"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engreen.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engreen.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engreen.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engreen.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engreen.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4669"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/engreen.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7474,"href":"https:\/\/engreen.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4669\/revisions\/7474"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engreen.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engreen.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engreen.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engreen.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4669"},{"taxonomy":"media_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engreen.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_tag?post=4669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}