According to the ECOHEATCOOL-study, which was co-financed by the European Commission under the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme, Europe wastes more heat in transforming energy than it actually consumes. Europe therefore has huge heat losses to be retrieved.
District heating and cooling (DHC) grids and combined heat and power (CHP) are amongst the most cost-efficient ways to retrieve these heat losses and thus save primary energy and greenhouse gas emissions. With these flexible technologies optimal use and combination of a large spectrum of "free" energy inputs is possible. Surplus heat from electricity production based on conventional or renewable fuels, from waste incineration and from industrial processes as well as different forms of renewable heat can be utilised easily and provide much needed energy infrastructure for the present and the future.
The study therefore pinpoints an expansion of district heating’s market share as the way to achieve huge benefits in energy efficiency, security of supply and lower carbon dioxide emissions. Doubling district heating’s market share would have the following results:
- Higher energy efficiency will reduce primary energy supply by 2.6% (2003) or 2.1 EJ (50.7 Mtoe)/year (equal to primary energy supply of Sweden).
- Higher security of supply will reduce the import dependency with 4.5 EJ (105.4 Mtoe)/year (equal primary energy supply of Poland).
- Lower carbon dioxide emissions will annually be reduced with 404 million tons, corresponding to 9.3 % of the current emissions (equalling current emissions of France from fuel combustion).
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