{"id":2433,"date":"2023-07-19T13:32:40","date_gmt":"2023-07-19T13:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horizon.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=2433"},"modified":"2023-07-19T13:32:40","modified_gmt":"2023-07-19T13:32:40","slug":"in-climate-fight-europe-pushes-for-homes-to-ditch-boilers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/2433\/in-climate-fight-europe-pushes-for-homes-to-ditch-boilers\/","title":{"rendered":"In climate fight, Europe pushes for homes to ditch boilers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heat pumps in buildings are in focus as the EU slashes emissions and boosts clean energy.<\/p>\n

By<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0HELEN MASSY-BERESFORD<\/p>\n

At the foot of the mountains of western Italy between the cities of Turin and Cuneo, Europe recently took a step forward in a campaign to provide homes with clean energy as part of the fight against climate change.<\/p>\n

In the municipality of Verzuolo, a project called\u00a0HAPPENING<\/a>\u00a0used EU funding to install heat pumps for a 10-unit apartment building in the run-up to this past winter. The pumps heated the apartments using solar power harnessed from rooftop panels.<\/p>\n

Pumps push<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Most of the energy used for heating was produced by photovoltaics and we have good feedback from the users,\u2019 said Lorenzo Civalleri, an engineer at Italian thermal energy company Tecnozenith, which helped to set up the system.<\/p>\n

Buildings are a major contributor to global warming because of their energy consumption for heating and cooling. In Europe, they account for 40% of energy demand and 36% of emissions of CO2, the main greenhouse gas.<\/p>\n

About half of all energy consumed in the EU is for heating and cooling and more than 70% still comes from fossil fuels, primarily natural gas, according to\u00a0Eurostat<\/a>. In the residential sector, around four-fifths of energy consumption is to heat spaces and water.<\/p>\n

Consequently, buildings are a significant part of new European legislation underpinning an EU push to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 55% in 2030 compared with 1990 levels and to become climate neutral by 2050.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s where European research and development come into play.<\/p>\n

\u2018Decarbonisation of existing buildings will have a key role to play in reaching the climate-protection goals that we have in Europe,\u2019\u00a0said Irantzu Urkola, coordinator of HAPPENING.<\/p>\n

One European priority is accelerating the installation of heat pumps, which are an alternative to boilers.<\/p>\n

With almost 17 million installed across Europe at the end of 2021, heat pumps not only are more efficient than boilers but also allow greater use of renewable energy including solar.<\/p>\n

10 million more<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU has frontloaded plans for expanding renewables and enhancing energy efficiency to accelerate a shift away from Russian fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

As part of this \u201cRePowerEU<\/a>\u201d strategy, Europe aims to double the rate of deployment of heat pumps in buildings and install an extra 10 million by 2027.<\/p>\n

That would help the EU achieve one of its big new headline targets in the climate fight: roughly doubling the share of renewables in overall energy consumption to at least 42.5% in 2030.<\/p>\n

HAPPENING, which began in October 2020 and runs through September 2024, has focused on installing heat pumps in homes and working with their occupants to highlight the benefits including convenience and reliability.<\/p>\n

Civalleri of Tecnozenith regards the Verzuolo demonstration, which covered 10 two-room apartments in total, as a success.<\/p>\n

\u2018The heating season is finished and there were no complaints \u2013 that\u2019s good news for us,\u2019 he said. \u2018We checked the system regularly and fixed some small issues, but we\u2019re quite happy with the functioning of the system in the first season.\u2019<\/p>\n

Next stops: Austria and Spain<\/strong><\/p>\n

HAPPENING is now gearing up for heat-pump demonstrations in the town of Liezen in central Austria and in the municipality of Pasaia in northern Spain.<\/p>\n

Heat pumps use electricity to warm a space or to produce hot water. The devices extract heat from the surrounding air, ground or water and \u201cpump\u201d it indoors.<\/p>\n

When solar panels are part of the system, the electricity consumed by heat pumps is renewable because it comes from the sun. In transferring the heat, the pumps avoid the need to generate it in the way that conventional technologies such as boilers do, making the system more efficient.<\/p>\n

In Verzuolo, first the system heats the water to 20-30 \u00b0C and stores it in a central tank before distribution around the building. In combination with rooftop solar power, the water can be heated when the sun is shining and then stored in the central tank until needed, maximising the use of renewables in the system.<\/p>\n

\u2018Distributing water at this low temperature, as opposed to hotter water, means a dramatic reduction in heat losses,\u2019 said Urkola, who works at Spain-based research and technological development centre Tecnalia.<\/p>\n

Each apartment has its own individual heat-pump system, allowing the household to control its temperature.<\/p>\n

The HAPPENING team will use data from the Verzuolo, Liezen and Pasaia sites to help develop guidelines for installers and consumers. In general, the project participants say a wider uptake of heat pumps is needed through more public awareness of them.<\/p>\n

\u2018Local authorities will need to promote these kinds of solutions for good energy renovations of buildings, using consolidated technology that is easy to install and implement,\u2019 said Civalleri.<\/p>\n

Awareness and training<\/strong><\/p>\n

Boosting awareness of heat-pump technology was an aim of the EU-funded\u00a0TRI-HP<\/a>\u00a0project, which ended in February 2023 after four years.<\/p>\n

As part of the initiative, the team addressed the barriers to more widespread use of heat pumps.<\/p>\n

Workshops with engineers, plumbers, architects and others responsible for installing heating systems highlighted a need for more education about heat pumps and their potential as well as improved training on how to put them in place.<\/p>\n

In some cases, workshop participants cited higher upfront costs as a barrier.<\/p>\n

TRI-HP sought to develop a heat-pump system that would offer the best of the currently available technologies at a lower cost, according to Daniel Carbonell, the project coordinator.<\/p>\n

TRI-HP, which brought together research institutes and industry partners from seven European countries, worked on two types.<\/p>\n

One is a dual-sourcing system, which uses heat from a bore hole and from the air. Alternating between the two sources at different times of the day means the bore hole doesn\u2019t need to be so deep, keeping investment costs down.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s usually air or ground, but this technology uses both,\u2019 said Carbonell, who is team leader for thermal systems and modelling at Switzerland\u2019s SPF Institute for Solar Technology. \u2018This is a significant cost reduction.\u2019<\/p>\n

The second system uses the sun\u2019s heat through so-called solar thermal collectors, passing it into water to be used as a source for the pump.<\/p>\n

Even with technological advances like those under HAPPENING and TRI-HP, faster installation of heat pumps across Europe will depend on greater public awareness of the potential savings and more training of heating engineers.<\/p>\n

Many installers are used to fitting gas and oil boilers that bring in easy profits. They\u2019ll need to be convinced that it is worth learning new techniques.<\/p>\n

\u2018There is a need for more training,\u2019 Carbonell said. \u2018And removing mental barriers is important too.\u2019<\/p>\n

Research in this article was funded by the EU. <\/em><\/p>\n

More info<\/p>\n