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Watt Matters: The FORESIGHT energy transition podcast
The questions facing low-carbon heating
Season 1, Ep. 8
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The decarbonisation of the heating sector is subject to serious debate. With lots of potential options on the tables, choosing the correct pathway is difficult. Heat pumps, powered by renewables, seems to be the favoured option for the majority of Europe’s buildings, but their rollout is slow.
District heating and combined heat and power generation are proven alternatives, while the role of the incumbent natural gas is unclear. If it cannot be part of our energy future, is there an effective substitute?
In this week’s episode of Watt Matters, the team are joined by Alix Chambris, vice president of global public affairs and sustainability at Viessmann, a German manufacturer of heating and cooling systems, and Brian Vad Mathiesen, professor of smart energy systems at Aalborg University in Denmark.
We discuss the best ways to decarbonise heating, whether it is a good idea that green hydrogen technologies take on some of the heating demand and how the war in Ukraine is changing perceptions.
Listen and subscribe to Watt Matters wherever you get podcasts! Follow us on Twitter at @WattMattersPod or email us at show@wattmatterspodcast.com. You can also find FORESIGHT Climate & Energy on LinkedIn.
Show notes:
- Renewable energies are freedom energies: https://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Content/DE/Reden/2022/2022-02-27-bundestagsrede-lindner-ukraine.html
- New gas heaters “politically wrong”: https://www.rnd.de/politik/habeck-haelt-einbau-neuer-gasheizungen-fuer-politisch-falsch-CEZRRPMQN2DFOQ75DI42HNRMVM.html
- Heat pumps for heat and freedom: https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/heat-pumps-for-peace-and-freedom
- Offshore wind sets records in latest US auction: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-offshore-wind-auction-nears-4bln-third-day-bidding-2022-02-25/
- Concerns of the thawing permafrost: https://bit.ly/3CT1vIj
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54. A satellite-eye view of methane emissions
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52. Renewables steam ahead in Europe
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51. Not the end of the world
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50. Decarbonising amid geopolitical tensions
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49. 2024: The year of elections
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47. Putting the "net" in net zero emissions
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