European leaders and laggards in the heating industry

The time to decarbonise is now!

The European Union hopes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 emissions. That is, reducing the emission of gases into the atmosphere from buildings by 60%, their final energy consumption by 14% and heating and cooling alone is to be reduced by 18%, compared to 2015 data.

Buildings are responsible for about 40% of the EU’s total energy consumption and 36% of its greenhouse gas emissions from energy. In the residential sector, more than 75% of the energy produced for heating currently comes from fossil fuels (gas, oil and coal).

The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) carried out a study in which they asked 53 companies to participate, of which 38 did not want to take part, making it very difficult to obtain information. The 15 companies that did participate belong to 10 different European countries. We have been divided into four groups depending on the degree of compatibility of our product and service portfolios with climate objectives:

• ‘Leaders”: Companies that market only electric heat pumps or solar heating systems.
• ‘Followers”: Sell some heating products that are not climate compatible, but are transitioning to fully sustainable solutions.
• ‘Laggards”: Sell fossil fuel and/or inefficient electric systems and have no clear plans to stop doing so before they are required by law.
• ‘Dark side”: companies that have declined to provide information for the report.

Why has the study been carried out?

The main idea behind this ranking is to make it known that ‘fossil fuel boilers’ and ‘electric space and water heaters’ are not climate compatible. The sale and installation of these systems in buildings would make it impossible to reach the targets set by the EU, let alone the world.

According to the EEB study, if fossil fuel boilers are installed beyond 2025, it is very likely that they will still exist by 2050. With less than 30 years to go before the EU becomes emission neutral, we are running out of time to decarbonise heating.

There needs to be a change in subsidies so that, when they subsidise climate compatible technologies, it is easier and quicker for businesses and citizens to make the energy transition we are looking for.

This study shows that there are 6 of us leaders who do not wait for legislation: we manufacture and sell only climate compatible heating products. In our case, we develop and manufacture hybrid solar panels with aHTech® technology.

Here is the full report, with more details, in case it is of interest. 

Solar installations in Multivivienda (Zaragoza, Spain) – Abora Solar