Heating electrification amplifies need for efficient buildings, experts say

(EurActiv, 21 May 2020) 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.

“Neither energy efficiency nor low-carbon heat technologies can achieve decarbonisation on their own,” say Jan Rosenow and Richard Lowes of the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), an independent think-tank.

Instead, a combination of the two is “the most economic and practical approach to heat decarbonisation,” the two experts argue in a report published in March.

Heating buildings accounts for almost one-third of total EU energy demand, and around 75% of it is provided by fossil fuels.

“Whilst there are uncertainties around the optimal technology mix for heating in the future, it is clear that electrification will have to play a significant role,” the two experts write – through individual or large-scale heat pumps, connected to district heating networks.

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EurActiv, 21 May 2020: Heating electrification amplifies need for efficient buildings, experts say