ECOHEATCOOL: European Heating and Cooling Market Study

  • Our Projects
  • January 2005 to December 2006

ECOHEATCOOL was a pioneering project which analysed European district heating and cooling markets. It provided a tool for policy makers and a series of policy recommendations.

 

1. ECOHEATCOOL

Duration:

January 2005 to December 2006.

 

Target Countries:

EU27, Croatia, Turkey, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland.

 

Description / Objectives:

ECOHEATCOOL was a unique project, the first of its kind, which utilised a demand-side approach to provide a comprehensive picture of the district heating and cooling markets in Europe. The ECOHEATCOOL project had four key objectives:

  • Describe and analyse the European heating and cooling markets and demand.
  • Provide a tool for policy makers to assess district heating and cooling systems.
  • Evaluate the possibilities for more district heating and cooling within Europe.
  • Provide policy priorities concerning district heating and cooling within Europe.

 

The ECOHEATCOOL project became a reference for the district heating and cooling sector; it enabled the development of a vision and quantification of the benefits that the district heating and cooling sector can bring to achieving the EU environmental policy objectives.

Results / Final Reports:

ECOHEATCOOL acted as a pioneering international project and demonstrated that heat dominates the energy end-use, with Europe wasting more heat in transforming energy than it consumes. Furthermore, ECOHEATCOOL enabled a quality-check of data of the international statistics for this sector, providing an aggregate view of this market. The ECOHEATCOOL project produced a series of detailed reports based upon the key objectives:

 

Policy Recommendations:

  • End-use demand: heating and cooling markets need to be address by legislation.
  • Urban areas: heating and cooling policies should prioritise action in urban areas.
  • Local conditions: heating and cooling markets must be considered as local issues.
  • Statistics: EU and national governments need to improve monitoring of markets.
  • Resources: Primary resource efficiency must influence legislation and investment.
  • Policy: DHC must be promoted through adequate policy and also legal frameworks.
  • Expansion: Policy must prioritise DHC in all markets as a way to optimise energy use.
  • Improvement: High level of DH in new Member States (EU-12) provides strong basis.
  • Allocation: Benefits and costs related to RES/CHP should be properly allocated.
  • Research: Research should reduce cost of DHC and EU should enable dissemination.

 

Project Partners:

Euroheat & Power (BE); Chalmers University of Technology (SE); Capital Cooling Europe (SE); Danish District Heating Association (DK); Finnish Energy Industries (FI); AGFW (DE), Italian District Heating Association (IT); Austrian Association of Gas and District Heat Supply Companies (AT); Swedish District Heating Association (SE); European Renewable Energy Council (BE); Norwegian District Heating Association (NO); Confederation of European Waste to Energy Plants (BE); French District Heating and Cooling Association (FR); Czech District Heating Association (CZ).

 

Website:

https://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/projects/en/projects/ecoheatcool

 

Funding:

IEE Programme.

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