Heating and cooling consumes around half of the EU’s energy and is a crucial sector to focus on in order to achieve the EU’s decarbonization goals. The EU sets up a long-term strategic vision for a climate neutral economy by 2050 that takes account of a wide range of decarbonization options - including industry and buildings - for a concerted effort to keep temperature increases preferably below to 1.5°C.

The European Commission presented the first “European Heating and Cooling Strategy” in 2016. The strategy proposed different solutions to make buildings and industry more efficient, to decarbonize energy systems through renewable energy sources, and incentivize the use of waste heat. It has also demonstrated that renewables could supply almost 80% of heating and cooling consumption by 2050 in buildings and industry together.

Now is time to issue a further version of the document, to be informed by the tender “Pathways for Energy Efficient Heating and Cooling”. Eurac Research is among the consortium led by Fraunhofer ISI which will implement the tender. The objective of the tender is to facilitate the implementation of the provisions of the Energy Efficiency Directive (Directive 2012/27/EU on Energy Efficiency as amended), efficiency in Heating and Cooling in the context of the Energy Efficiency First Principle, the 2050 greenhouse gas objectives, and net-zero emission for heating and cooling.

During the next two years – the project starts at end 2021 and closes in 2023 – the researchers of the Institute for Renewable Energy of Eurac Research will compare energy efficiency values and decarbonization potential of different technologies, energy sources, and carriers used for heating and cooling. The results from the study will contribute to the implementation of the EU Strategy on Energy System Integration and the heating and cooling strategy or its potential revision for improved performance of energy.