Policy keynote speaker: To reach the climate goals heat pumping technologies will play a critical and enabling role

The 12th IEA Heat Pump Conference in Rotterdam started with three very interesting policy keynote presentations, conveying the message that heat pumping technology is a technology for the future.

Policy keynote speaker – Eric Masanet

The first speaker was Eric Masanet, who is the Head of the Energy Demand Technology Unit at IEA. He started by saying that the global energy transisiton has gained momentum, nevertheless there is a great challange to reach the 2 degree ambitions.

On the supply side, we need to shift investments from traditional technologies to renewable ones. On the demand side, we need to ramp up the amount of investment if the ambitions shall be reached.

The next issue of the Energy Technology Perspectives, ETP 2017, will be released in the first week of June. In that a ”below 2 degree scenario” is described. For that to be reached a strong focus on energy efficiency, renewables, electrification and CCS (carbon capture storage) is necessary.

He also emphasized that to reach our climate goals, we need to ensure that we have the right policies. We have to do more with less, meaning energy efficiency must be prioritized first. To eliminate the fossil fuels from the building sector the heating sector must be electrified to a larger extent. To reach the”below 2 degrees scenario”, heatpumping technolgies will play a critical and enabling role, replacing both electric resistance and fossil fuel heating!

Policy keynote speaker – Hans van Steen

Hans van Steen – from DG Energy at the European Commission – told the audience that there has been a positive development for using of renewable energy in the heating sector in Europe, for example heat pumps, which is now the second largest renewable energy source for heating after biomass within the EU. The scope on heat pumps is enormous!

He gave a lot of interesting information about the clean energy package, that they are working on at the moment. The goals are to put energy efficiency first, that the EU should be the global leader in renewable energies, that there shall be a fair deal for the consumers – the consumers are in the centre of the decisions and we need to give the consumer a possibility to make a rational decision. We must empowering the citizens!

Policy keynote speaker – Michael Taylor

The third policy keynote speaker was Michael Taylor – from IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency) – who talked about the perspectives for the energy transition, end-use sectors and heat pumps.

He stated that renawble energy leads to an increase in global GDP and it creates jobs. He also talked about REmap project that will help EU to identify cost effective renewable options.

He concluded by saying that heat pumping technology is really one of a few to decarbonise the heat sector for buildings, together with district heating, solar energy and biomass.