everyone has their own wood pellet boiler vs district energy with central pellet boiler for heating?

what are your opinion on everyone has their own wood pellet boiler vs district energy with central pellet boiler for heating? its cool being in charge of your own boiler but some people especially elderly and disabled might find it hard to move firewood or pellets around. district energy is very convenient because you just have a hot water btu meter and pay for hot water based on how much you own and not have to worry about hauling fel around. of course district energy might mean tearing up side walks and streets to put pipes in adding to cost but people having their own boiler might find boilers to expensive to buy and install. what do you think is most practical?

After reading the stories of district hot water in Russia and whole towns nearly freezing to death--no thank you. There is resiliency in distributed systems.

The City of Philadelphia has a steam system that supplies steam to about 500 customers, if I remember correctly. It's been decades since I've been there, but I recall the steam vents located around town. Homeless people would sleep atop the steam grates located at certain intersections. The system is still in use today. If you research that, perhaps you could find out the pros and cons of centralized steam generation. I bet the initial infrastructure is pricey. And certified boiler operators would need to run such a public system.

Back in the 70's I worked a few years at a very large commercial greenhouse operation that used steam heat for their greenhouses. They had a central boiler and miles of piping that went to their numerous greenhouses. The system always seemed to work. But I had no involvement with it, so I can't say how well the system functioned or anything about the maintenance, costs, etc.

R Scott wrote:After reading the stories of district hot water in Russia and whole towns nearly freezing to death--no thank you. There is resiliency in distributed systems.

I have friends from Alchevs'k... some remember a few weeks at the beach in Crimea one winter at summer holiday hostels while they powers that bee waited for the broken pipes to thaw so they could restart the system after repairs

Central heating for a building yes, for a village no.

It makes sense where you have a constant industrial user for some form of power, and steam can be a byproduct. The district needs to be compact enough for the piping infrastructure to be efficient.