Thursday, June 1, 2017

Europe: Commission Underestimates Potential for Geothermal Heating and Cooling - EGEC

Increasing ambition for renewable heating and cooling: Is the current energy modelling enough? (EGEC)

The European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) has released a policy paper assessing the current European Commission’s energy modelling for heating and cooling, used to generate forecasts that serve as basis for policy proposals and policy making. The resulting analysis shows a lack of robustness in the Commission’s forecasts for the heating and cooling sector, which translates in a lack of ambition, in the initial Commission’s proposal, for the future of the renewable heating and cooling (RES-HC) sector. 

The decarbonisation of the heating and cooling sector is moving to the forefront of the debate on EU’s climate and energy ambitions, with several voices, most notably MEP José Blanco López, Rapporteur on the Renewable Energy Directive, asking for more investments in renewable heating and cooling to stay in line with the targets set by the Paris Agreement. But what can be done to transform the ambition in practical goals?