Cooling in the Amsterdam Zuidas district
By generating district cooling, buildings and computer rooms can be cooled without the need for energy-guzzling machines. This is achieved principally by using the natural temperature of water from a lake and this water source can provide cooling for an entire district. Cooling is very environmentally friendly and enables a CO2 reduction of 75% per building to be reached in comparison with air conditioning.
Nuon is the first supplier of district cooling in the Netherlands. We produce district cooling by making use of the low temperature of the deep water in the Nieuwe Meer, a lake on the outskirts of Amsterdam.
Cold water from a depth of around 30 metres is pumped from the lake in a constant cycle to the production site, where it cools the transport water in the pipes of the cooling network. Afterwards it is pumped back in to the lake, where it quickly returns to the ambient temperature. In other words, the lake’s natural conditions remain unaffected.
The cooled transport water goes from the production site to the Zuidas district, where it cools office buildings. The production site also has compression refrigerating machines, which provide extra cooling for the transport water if the temperature of the lake water is too high. In this way we are able to supply the right temperature of cooling to our customers at all times.