The heat surplus in Europe is almost equal to the EU's total energy demand for heat and hot water in residential and tertiary buildings
02/27/2023
Source: Energy & Management Powernews
With a whitepaper, the company Danfoss wants to point out the immense amounts of waste heat that exist across Europe but are not used.
According to data published by the Danish company Danfoss, the heat surplus in Europe is around 2,860 TWh per year. This corresponds to almost the entire energy demand of the EU for heat and hot water in residential and tertiary buildings, Danfoss announced on February 24 in this regard. The published white paper, titled "The world's largest untapped energy source" , goes on to say that the use of waste heat could give the economy a productivity boost, lower energy prices and accelerate the energy transition.
According to the paper, consistent use of waste heat and sector coupling could save around €67.4 billion annually in energy costs in Europe. But according to Kim Fausing, president and CEO of Danfoss, the use of waste heat is ignored by policymakers even though the potential is there - including in this country: "Germany faces a variety of complex energy policy challenges, but the potential of waste heat across the country is much greater than you might think." Berlin, for example, could easily meet the heating needs of ten percent of its population just by making more consistent use of available waste heat.
The CEO also cites the industrial location of Essen, which, along with its surrounding urban areas, produces 11.98 TWh of surplus heat per year. "That is equivalent to the heat requirements of 1,200,000 households. Not to forget data centers: Germany has the second highest density of data centers in the world; this waste heat could and should be used. Therefore, waste heat is the largest unused energy source in the world," says Fausing. "Despite this, there are very few initiatives to make more efficient use of the huge amounts of wasted energy in the form of waste heat, even though we already have solutions to harness it."
The white paper now published is intended to highlight the potential. At the same time, the company is calling on policymakers to do more to accelerate the use of waste heat in all sectors. According to Danfoss, this would require regulatory hurdles to be removed and more economic incentives to be created.
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