In the United Kingdom, policymakers are considering the idea of converting households that currently use gas for heating to instead burn hydrogen. This idea is known to compare poorly, on energy system cost grounds, to widespread energy efficiency, electrification using heat pumps and heat networks. Little attention, however, has been paid to what the actual runn...

Pompy ciepła to jedna z kluczowych technologii na drodze transformacji energetycznej, już niedługo stanie się najważniejszą technologią dla dekarbonizacji ogrzewnictwa. Obecnie zdecydowana większość ciepła do gospodarstw domowych jest dostarczana przez paliwa kopalne. W celu promowania i zachęcania do instalowania pomp ciepła na całym świecie, w ra...

La energía utilizada para la calefacción y refrigeración representa alrededor del 50% del consumo total de energía en el mundo. De esta cifra, casi la mitad se consume para calentar edificios. Y la mayor parte de la energía utilizada se obtiene de combustibles fósiles. Si bien las medidas de eficiencia energética en los edificios pueden contribuir enormeme...

Europe is heavily reliant on fossil fuels in the heating sector. The EU has set itself a goal of deploying 30 million additional heat pumps by 2030. To advance the transition away from fossil fuels in the heating sector, the EU and its Member States have recently proposed or agreed on several heat-related policies. This includes an emissions trading scheme for gr...

Heat pumps, a critical technology for clean energy systems, are poised to become the most important technology for heating decarbonisation. Currently, the vast majority of heat is provided by fossil fuels. In order to promote and encourage heat pump installations across the globe, the Regulatory Assistance Project, CLASP and the Global Buildings Performance Netwo...

The Renewable Energy Directive (RED), designed to help meet the EU’s ambitious 2030 and 2050 climate targets, sets targets for growing renewables usage for heating and cooling in the building sector. As currently written, however, the RED encourages inefficient uses of renewables in buildings to meet these goals. In this paper, we suggest reforms to the RED wo...

Europe’s stated goal of achieving a net-zero power system by 2050 is inherently replete with enormous opportunities and challenges. High energy prices and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have now ratcheted up the urgent need for action to emergency levels. Policymakers are facing the challenge of a lifetime to secure the supply of energy and protect disadvantage...

Taxing energy in line with its environmental harm aligns the prices facing consumers with policy objectives. Energy taxes and levies encourage energy efficiency and raise revenues for governments, which can then dedicate them to energy transition projects. Not all energy sources are equal, however, when it comes to their environmental-damage costs. Adding taxes a...

The transition to zero-emission mobility and a decarbonised energy system are best planned in tandem, and electric vehicles will play a key role in both shifts in the coming years. Automakers are already committing to phasing out internal combustion engine vehicles, making Europe’s transport future electric. EVs are more than a cleaner vehicle; they are a power...

Removing fossil fuels from heating is a goal of policy makers around the world in order to decarbonise energy systems and to remove exposure to fossil fuel imports. Alongside efficiency measures, the key technology to replace fossil fuels for heating is heat pumps. In the EU, where fossil fuels — mostly gas — dominate the heating mix, rapid action on heat is ...