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Cooling demand in buildings is globally increasing, therefore developing more efficient cooling systems is important for the sustainability of European cities. Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the council on energy efficiency states: "Member States should carry out a comprehensive assessment of the potential for high-efficiency cogeneration and district heating and cooling". The EU project INDIGO is investigating this issue considering also the economic efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources. In a district cooling system different kinds of cooling production can be combined. E.g., the use of absorption chillers with waste heat or through the solar cooling or the use of free cooling (generally the heat is rejected to seas, lakes, rivers or waterways) offer the possibility of a more sustainable way of cooling. Controlling those systems in an efficient way is a complex problem (consider that the cooling demand is much more difficult to predict than the heat demand, particularly the peaks, and sources such as the solar energy and the waste heat are not predetermined by the designers). The main results of INDIGO will be the development of: -predictive controllers (responsible for obtaining the HVAC systems set-points and based on component dynamic thermos-fluid models, some of them also including embedded self-learning algorithms);

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The underlying assumption of this study is that in order to retain the competitiveness while reaching for the EU targets regarding low-energy construction, district heating companies need to develop new business and service models. How district heating companies could broaden their perspective and switch to a more service-oriented way of thinking is a key interest of our research. The used methods in our study are house builder interviews and a questionnaire. With the help of these methods we discussed the potential interest in heating related services acquiring a comprehensive understanding of the customer needs. The results indicate the importance of certain criteria when choosing the heating system in households: easiness, comfort and affordability seem to dominate the house builders' preferences. Also environmental awareness seems to be for many an important factor when making a decision about the heating of the house. Altogether, based on the results of this study, we suggest that the prospects of district heating could benefit from highlighting certain aspects and strengths in the future. District heating companies need to increase flexibility, readiness to adopt new services, to invest in new marketing strategies and improving the communication skills.