About: district heating

Heating neglected in EU plan to ditch Russian fossil fuels, industry says

The European Commission is due to table plans on Wednesday (18 May) to break free from Russian fossil fuels but, apart from a renewed push for heat pumps, there are major oversights when it comes to decarbonising heating and cooling, according to industry representatives.

Cleaning Poland’s air: EU hopes for green heating from Warsaw

As fossil fuels continue to be burned to produce heat, Europe’s air quality suffers. With many of these fossil fuels coming from Russia, EU policymakers are seeing an opportunity to speed up their phase-out.

EU bets on local planning to boost district heating

District heating networks are set to receive a boost under draft EU legislation requiring all municipalities above 50,000 inhabitants to map out heating and cooling decarbonisation roadmaps.

Gas crisis accelerates energy transition in district heating

The war in Ukraine is shifting the economic fundamentals behind the choice of fuel supplying district heating networks, with large-scale heat pumps becoming a more attractive option for energy operators looking to decarbonise.

EU ready to increase energy efficiency target to eliminate Russian gas

The European Commission is revising the economic assumptions behind its energy and climate laws package presented last year, saying sky-high gas prices fuelled by the war in Ukraine have strengthened the case for more ambitious energy efficiency goals.

Poles urge EU to stick with gas as a transition fuel in district heating

Poland’s largest electricity company, PGE, has asked EU regulators for more time to replace coal with gas in district heating systems, saying gas in Poland is now mostly supplied by countries other than Russia.

Industry chief: District heating sector looking at ‘other options’ than gas

Russia’s aggression in Ukraine is prompting the district heating sector to look at other options than fossil gas, with the industry’s representative in Brussels underlining the huge untapped potential of waste heat coming from industry and data centres among the immediately available options.

District heating

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With the Russian war in Ukraine, the European Union is looking at ways of accelerating the green transition and replace fossil gas in sectors like heating and power generation. Can district heating play a role?

Helsinki bets on electrification to decarbonise heating

Electricity from heat pumps, combined with a shift to renewables in district heat networks, emerged as the winning technologies to drive the Finnish capital’s transition to carbon neutrality by 2035.

IRENA chief: EU geothermal capacity could grow eight-fold by 2050

Geothermal is competitive with wind and solar technologies and can work together with them to create a reliable supply of renewable energy, according to Francesco La Camera, who sees geothermal capacity as growing up to eight-fold in the EU by mid-century.

Finnish industries launch ‘game-changing’ bid to go green, digital

A consortium of twelve Finnish corporations calling themselves the "game-changers" have announced a new billion-euro offensive to build new digital infrastructure, saying the digital transition will be key to achieve green objectives after the COVID-19 crisis.

LEAK: ‘Efficiency first’ is top priority of draft EU energy strategy

Efficiency must be at the core of Europe’s energy policy, the European Commission says in a draft policy document outlining its vision of a more agile, low-carbon energy system powered chiefly by renewable electricity.

Heating electrification amplifies need for efficient buildings, experts say

Electrification is key to decarbonising the residential heating sector, but it needs to be done smartly, by using heat pumps flexibly in houses that are efficient enough to act as “thermal batteries,” experts argue.

Heat networks in focus as EU cities confront building emissions

Last year, the European Union embarked on a mission to decarbonise the building sector, currently responsible for 40% of the bloc’s energy use. And cities with district heat networks have a head start when it comes to integrating new low-carbon energy sources.

European cities share heating decarbonisation tips

Cities with decades-old combined heat and power systems are emitting less carbon than others, and EU policymakers are looking at how to emulate this across the bloc.

Connecting the dots to enable climate leadership at all levels

We are running out of time to achieve the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030, and need urgent and ambitious climate leadership. Cities are central to this effort – and it is crucial that we continue to enable our cities to address and solve climate challenges, writes Lars Tveen.

Solar CEO: ‘Heating electrification is one of the biggest mistakes of the energy transition’

Wind and solar photovoltaic are way too small to cope with Europe's massive demand for heating, especially in winter, says Christian Holter who calls for allocating scarce renewable energy resources to economic sectors where they can bring the most in terms of carbon reduction.

Feeling the heat: Why EU climate targets depend on ditching fossil fuel boilers

The European Union has set a target of increasing renewables in heating and cooling by 1.3% every year starting in 2021. Given the pervasiveness of gas heat, it may be a struggle.

Academic: Oil and gas boilers should be banned across Europe by 2030

Emissions from residential heating can be drastically reduced if Europe agrees a ban on new oil and gas boiler installations by 2030 at the latest, according to a Danish researcher who led an EU-wide study to decarbonise the heating and cooling sector.

IEA analyst: A heating and cooling target ‘could make a big difference’

As talks on the EU’s renewable energy rules resume, one of the main talking points is how to decarbonise the heating sector, and deploy technologies like heat pumps and district heating. The International Energy Agency’s Ute Collier told EURACTIV in an interview that the task is complex and difficult.

Biomass policy under the spotlight as EU talks kick off

The European Union’s proposed new biomass policy has enough built-in safeguards to ensure it doesn’t lead to additional carbon emissions, an EU official told a EURACTIV event last week, amid warnings that the policy risks making global warming worse by increasing deforestation.