On 16 May, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released a new report entitled ´Energy-efficient Buildings: Heating & Cooling Equipment´. The study shows how these technologies can dramatically reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions within residential, commercial and public buildings. The buildings sector currently accounts for around one-third of total final energy consumption in Europe...

The IEA roadmap says that existing technologies such as solar thermal, heat pumps, thermal energy storage and combined heat & power (CHP) for buildings can help reduce EU´s CO2 emissions by up to 2 gigatonnes (Gt) -around 25% of today´s emissions from buildings- and save 710 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) of energy, both by 2050. The IEA highlights that these savings could be achieved rapidly and at low-cost, since these technologies are already available today and because heating and cooling equipments are replaced much more often than buildings.

In addition to providing an overview of the different mature, commercially available heating and cooling technologies, the IEA roadmap also presents emerging technologies and explores how they could be deployed over the next decades. It aims at guiding governments and industry in the actions that are needed if they are to tapp the full potential of clean energy technologies. The reports gives recommendations on how to overcome widespread market barriers to their deployment -be it in terms of awareness about existing technologies or incentives to use them in buildings.

“Governments need to create the economic conditions that will enable heating and cooling technologies to meet environmental criteria at least cost”, said Bo Diczfalusy, the IEA’s Director of Sustainable Energy Policy and Technology, at the launch of the report. “The challenge is significant given the very fragmented nature of the buildings sector and the difficulty of ensuring that effective policy reaches all decision makers”, he added.

The study highlights that a package of policy measures and strong, consistent, stable and balanced policy support will be needed in four main areas, namely R&D, information to consumers, market deployment policies for heating and cooling technologies, and international collaboration to maximise the benefits of policy intervention. Policies in OECD countries should focus on retrofitting heating and cooling equipment in the existing building stock, given the relatively low rate of new build and slow retirement of existing buildings. In non-OECD countries, however, the rapid construction of new buildings calls for urgent policy action for heating and cooling equipments for new buildings.

ENDS Europe reminds that a leaked draft of the forthcoming Energy Efficiency Directive would require EU countries to adopt national heating and cooling plans by 2013. The draft Directive also says 3% of public buildings should meet minimum energy efficiency requirements by 2014.