Archive 2008

Moving from principles to action for energy supply that mitigates against climate change requires a long-term perspective. Energy infrastructure takes time to build up; new energy technologies take time to develop. Policy shifts often also need many years to take effect. In most world regions the transformation from fossil to renewable energies will require additional investment and higher supply costs over about twenty years

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archives 2008 archive regional scenarios 2008 latin america heat and cooling supply

heat and cooling supply

Today, renewables provide around 40% of primary energy demand for heat supply in Latin America, the main contribution coming from the use of biomass. The availability of less efficient but cheap appliances is a severe structural barrier to efficiency gains. Large-scale utilisation of geothermal and solar thermal energy for heat supply will be largely restricted to the industrial sector.

In the Energy [R]evolution Scenario, renewables provide 83% of Latin America’s total heating and cooling demand in 2050.

Energy efficiency measures restrict the future primary energy demand for heat and cooling supply to a 60% increase, in spite of improving living standards.
In the industry sector solar collectors, biomass/biogas as well as geothermal energy are increasingly replacing conventional fossil fuel-fired heating systems.
A shift from coal and oil to natural gas in the remaining conventional applications leads to a further reduction of CO2 emissions.