Riga, 16/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - Meeting for an informal two-day working session (15-16 April) in Riga, the European ministers, in a debate on energy efficiency in the urban heating and cooling sector on Wednesday 15 April, gave the Commission some political orientations for the revision of the Community heating/cooling strategy, which the European Executive has pledged for the end of the year.
Energy efficiency in the heating/cooling sector is of vital importance, as this sector consumes nearly half of all the energy consumed in the EU, the Latvian energy minister and president-in-exercise of the Council, Dana Reizniece-Ozola, reiterated in her summary of the work before the press. The ministers therefore agreed on the need for a strategy for the sector.
Among the elements put forward for the future strategy, the ministers stressed the importance of using more renewable energies for the production of heat and cooling, as this proportion currently stands at just 16.5% for the EU, Reizniece-Ozola stressed. With a share of 49.7% of renewables used for heating and cooling, Latvia is one of the leaders in this field, behind Sweden (67.2%) and Finland (50.9%).
The ministers also highlighted the need to use the efficient technology already available on the market and to make use of synergies between all existing technologies. They also stressed the importance of developing new technological solutions in industrial processes in particular, including making use of heat lost from buildings.
The ministers emphasised the importance of making use of all available financial instruments to implement the future heating/cooling strategy and energy efficiency in the sector, and the Juncker investment plan is seen as a key instrument to support the strategy.
“The Presidency believes that a common EU strategy for heating and cooling should set a vision for the sector to enable the use of synergies and get the maximum benefit for consumers, the environment and the economy”, Dana Reizniece-Ozola summed up.
On the basis of Wednesday's discussions, the Presidency will prepare a summary note which will serve as a contribution to the strategy to be presented by the Commission in the next few months.
“The strategy will examine the role of the heating/cooling sector in pursuing our long-term decarbonisation objectives, but also its contribution to energy security. It will take stock of the latest technology for the production of heating/cooling and examine how the sector would deal with an interruption to gas supplies. It will look at how we can remove technological barriers in the industrial processes and obstacles to investment. We can make use of the Juncker investment plan to do this”, the Energy Commissioner, Miguel Arias Cañete, explained. The strategy will take the form of communication, Cañete said, adding that the ensuing debates will allow the Commission to assess whether or not relevant legislation for the sector is necessary. (Emmanuel Hagry)