The energy demand for heating of urban environments during socialist and post-socialist times was usually covered by fossil resources such as coal, oil or gas. Therefore, urban infrastructure was configured with district heating networks usually powered by a nearby coal-fired power station. If there was no available network, apartments and houses were mostly heated by coal or oil fired stoves. As the urban energy infrastructure stayed mostly untouched in post-socialist times, these energy resources with huge environmental impact and enormous greenhouse effects are still state of the art in many post-socialist cities and towns. The town of Ub, Kolubara District, is located in an industrial area of central Serbia in the immediate vicinity of the huge opencast coal mines named “Kolubara”. The town of Ub had 5,089 (2011) inhabitants and the whole municipality of Ub had 23,775 (2011). Due to its more rural structure, the existing building development is not so dense when compared to major Serbian cities such as Belgrade, Novi Sad or Niš. The structure of Ub allows the application of cheaper horizontal collector systems next to common borehole heat exchangers. This paper will show the renewable energy potential in the urban environment of Ub and the possibility of low environmental impact solutions in such urban environments using an existing pan-European data-set (ThermoMap), investigation tools for geothermal potentials, GIS mapping, and regulations for geothermal installation in Kolubara District.

Editors: Ivan Ratkaj, Danica Šantić, Marija Antić, Aljoša Budović