Refurbishing buildings into systemic leverage points for clean energy transition

Heating and cooling correspond to roughly half of the final energy use in EU, regardless of the country. At the same time, only 23 % of this demand is satisfied on renewable supply. Both the EU Green Deal and the Fit-for-55 package indicate that decarbonizing the heating and cooling sector is crucial in meeting the emission reduction targets. Moreover, the Russian offensive war on Ukraine and the resulting energy sector turmoil in Europe has highlighted the need accelerate the clean energy transition with emphasis on solutions that increase energy security, most notably reducing the use of natural gas in production of heat. The main solutions for tackling this challenge are energy efficiency (EE), heat pumps (HPs) and district heating (DH) based on renewable and waste heat sources. While the related solutions are reasonably mature, their application is hindered by the existing buildings and infrastructure - but also practices and current business models. The heat distribution systems within buildings are key enablers within the heating sector; this includes their design, operation and more specifically, their temperature levels.

This project aims to 1) identify, 2) assess and 3) demonstrate the solutions for refurbishing buildings for developing next generation DH - but similarly improving the efficiency of virtually any heat supply, e.g., individual ground source HPs. While the focus is on existing building stock, the solutions are fully applicable to new buildings. In Finland, the focus is on improving heat distribution systems in existing buildings that are connected to DH to enable lower operational temperatures allowing more efficient integration of renewable and waste heat into the DH system.