Researchers change the direction of EU heating strategy

Research & Innovation News
16 February 2016

Over the last five years, the European Union has radically changed its views on heating, partly thanks to a series of studies led by a group of researchers at Aalborg University, Denmark. This is evident from a new EU Strategy on Heating and Cooling launched today.

Five years ago, the EU’s focus was firmly set on reducing the heat demand and electrifying the heat supply. District heating was on the periphery of EU energy policy at that time. In fact, an official communication from the EU Commission in 2011 said that district heating was expected to decline in the future (Energy Roadmap 2050, European Commission, 2011 Available from: http://ec.europa.eu).

Since then, the Commission has warmed considerably to district heating. In the new EU Strategy on Heating and Cooling launched today, district heating is mentioned on the first page and has a prominent position in the strategy’s vision for the future. The Heat Roadmap Europe project, which is led by the Sustainable Energy Planning Research Group at Aalborg University, has played a key role in this transformation with the research mentioned more than 10 times throughout the strategy’s support documents.

“The whole perception of heating has changed in the Commission over the last few years, and we’re really happy to see our work contribute to this change through real policy,” said David Connolly, Associate Professor at Aalborg University and coordinator of Heat Roadmap Europe, which is part of the 4DH Research Centre and includes partners from Halmstad University, University of Flensburg, PlanEnergi, Ecofys, and the University of Zagreb.

Heat Roadmap Europe combines large heat savings in the buildings with a cost-effective heat supply. The results outline where the heat demand is high enough to justify the investment in a district heating network.

“Our research indicates that district heating can quadruple its share across Europe, from 13% today to almost 50% in the future, so our results suggest that district heating will be a central solution in the EU’s low-carbon transition.”

The work also connects these district heating networks to potential new heat supplies such as power plants, large industries, waste incinerators, heat pumps, solar thermal and deep geothermal.

“We were amazed to find so much heat for these new district heating networks in Europe. In fact, the power plants alone currently have enough heat to supply all of these new district heating networks, so we could use this waste heat to replace the natural gas heating in our cities.”

Heat Roadmap Europe has demonstrated that by looking at heating as an integrated part of the energy system, it is possible to save money, save energy and use more renewable energy sources, even when accounting for the initial investments.

“We often assume it will cost us money to reduce our carbon emissions, but due to all the fuel we save with these energy efficiency measures, we actually save even more money than we spend,” concluded David Connolly.

The EU Heating and Cooling Strategy will influence three upcoming EU directives on Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, and the Energy Performance of Buildings that will lead to concrete legislation on heating and cooling in the EU member states. The fourth Heat Roadmap Europe study is financed by Horizon 2020 and will begin in March of this year. It will develop more detailed results for the 14 largest Member States and cover 90% of EUs heat demand.