Chair of HWG: Maria Capogreco
Vice-chair: Neil Turley
Members of the HWG: 48 selected experts
Name of the HWG: HWG 100% RE Individually Heated & Cooled Buildings (100% RE Buildings)
Proposed duration: To be harmonized with the timeline of the common RHC-ETIP documents to be produced the next 3 years
Objectives / goals
E.g. in EU households, heating and hot water alone account for 79% of total final energy use.[1] 84% of heating and cooling is still generated from fossil fuels while only 16% is generated from renewable energy sources.[2] Around 70% of the EU population lives in privately owned residential buildings.[3]
This HWG supports 100% renewable energy (RE) in existing and new individually heated & cooled buildings (residential and others) that are difficult to connect to district heating and cooling (DHC) grids, e.g. due to either its remoteness (in rural areas), or due to its low energy demand (new, low-energy buildings or passive houses).
Key challenges today are the low fuel prices of heating oil and natural gas, high initial investment costs for RE systems, insufficient consulting expertise on RE systems of key actors, lack of awareness and information, as well as the complexity of combined RE technologies.
Definitions and limitations:
Limitation: Only individual buildings are considered, not buildings connected through a common heating and cooling system (e.g. like large hospitals, airports). These will be included in HWG 100% RE Districts. Industrial buildings are included 100% RE Industries.
By 100% RE Buildings, we mean:
– any RE sources or technologies or combinations of these (no discrimination or prioritising between the individual RE sources or technologies).
– that any comparison between the technologies is based on energy indicators, but not on GHG emissions. However, for the individual RE technologies’ value chains, minimisation of GHG emissions should be targeted.
– 100% of the net active energy use in the buildings for heating (including hot water) and cooling. Cooking is exempted. Retrofitting of old buildings, improved building standards and optimised passive (direct solar) heating are energy efficiency measures, but not accounted for the 100% target.
– that RE electricity used for heating (direct or in heat pumps) is included. Non-RE electricity used for heating is not acceptable. Electricity from the grid used for heating must be certified RE electricity.
– that any fossil energy sources used for heating and cooling must be balanced on a net energy basis by excess energy production in the buildings (e.g. rooftop PV excess electricity to the grid), and natural gas for (part) heating. Certified SNG from biogenic sources supplied through the gas grid is a renewable energy source.
– that the RE technology can be located in a dedicated building close to the building, e.g. for a larger size biomass-based unit providing energy supply to one large building.
The objective of the HWG is to define a strategy for 100% RE in existing and new individually heated & cooled buildings (residential and others) in Europe. The suggested target is 70% RE by 2030 and 100% within 2050. A vision for 2050, research and innovation priorities and a deployment and innovation strategy will be developed to reach these targets, including policy recommendations to help policy makers and politicians to set the right framework conditions, especially in terms of RTD and deployment support.
Actions / description of methodology <How do you plan to work within the HWG, what is the methodology used to achieve the objectives, max 20 lines>
The work will be carried out parallel with the other HWGs and the timeline of the common RHC-ETIP documents to be produced the next 3 years. Issue Groups will be established and will define the specific content of the issue topics and collect input from stakeholders. They will elaborate input to the common RHC-ETIP documents.
Proposed Issue Groups (for individual buildings)
- Technology related:
- RE heating technologies, including power to heat
- RE combined technologies, i.e. 2 or more RE technologies combined
- RE cooling technologies
- Micro to small scale-CHP technologies, running on any RE source
- RE heating storage technologies
- Policy, market and economy related:
- Policies and market developments (incentives, legislation, etc.)
- Key actor capacity building (distributors, retailers, installers, chimney sweepers, energy consultants, etc. – education, guidelines and tools)
- Economic perspectives of the different technologies and systems (including cost evolutions)
