District Cooling can be defined as the distribution of cooling from one or more sources to multiple buildings. District cooling systems produce chilled water at a central plant and then pipe that energy out to buildings in the district for air conditioning use. District cooling is now widely used in downtown business districts and institutional settings such as college campuses. Individual buildings don't need their own chillers or air conditioners anymore. A district cooling system does that work for them. District Cooling has also proven to be a major contributor to Greenhouse Gas reduction in many cases.

Many people may not be familiar with district cooling, because it quietly does its job. Plus, the pipes that deliver the chilled water are usually buried underneath the streets, so most people don't know they are there.

District cooling systems displace peak electric power demand with district cooling and storage using ice or chilled water. This benefits the local power grid by reducing peak power demand and alleviating power congestion due to power transmission limitations in cities. So district cooling not only helps cool cities, it helps alleviate the challenges posed by high electric consumption.