heat and cooling supply
Renewables currently provide 13% of OECD Europe’s energy demand for heat supply, the main contribution coming from the use of biomass.The lack of district heating networks is a severe structural barrier to the large scale utilisation of geothermal and solar thermal energy. In the Energy [R]evolution scenario, renewables provide 62% of OECD Europe’s total heating and cooling demand in 2050.
- Energy efficiency measures can decrease the current demand for heat supply by 27%, in spite of improving living standards.
- For direct heating, solar collectors, biomass/biogas as well as geothermal energy are increasingly substituting for fossil fuel-fired systems.
The advanced Energy [R]evolution case introduces efficiency measures e.g. via strict building standards and renewable heating systems around 5 years ahead of the Energy [R]evolution scenario.
- Energy efficiency: Compared to the Reference scenario, 7,211 PJ/a or 27% are safed by 2050.
- Solar collectors and geothermal heating systems achieve economies of scale via ambitious support programms 5 to 10 years earlier.The total RES share thereby increases to 42% by 2030 and 92% by 2050.

