How to heat homes and workplaces without relying on fossil fuels is one of the more difficult challenges for moving rapidly to zero carbon economies. Within the European Union (EU), the heating sector is the most energy and carbon-intensive, accounting for nearly 50% of the total energy demand in the EU, 75% of which is met through burning fossil fuels. Globally in 2017, just 10% of heat demand was met with sources of renewable energy. But, as the United Kingdom declares an intention to remove domestic gas boilers, in chilly Scandinavia, Finland has shown the extraordinary potential of one of the less visible renewable energy technologies – heat pumps.
Individual householders identified the suitability of this technology early on and invested in learning from each other. When government regulation caught up and began to support the technology with legislation, the market was already well developed and local heating engineers relatively skilled up. This illustrates a problem that many other countries will face – having sufficient knowledge among engineers and installers to make a heating rapid transition possible.
Finland has historically relied on burning biomass and oil for heating, being a country with a relatively small, thinly spaced population and large forests. In 1970, 90% of its space heating supply came from timber and oil. However, by 2012 the heating supply mix was almost unrecognisable. District heating, where heat is transmitted from a centralised source through a network of insulated pipes to multiple buildings, accounted for 40% of the supply mix, with electricity providing 21%, biomass 21%, oil 11%, heat pumps 6%, and gas contributing only 1%.
Although regulation has driven the scale of this transition, individual households have also played a key role. Much of the huge investment flowing into the purchase and installation of heat pumps in Finland has come from regular homeowners using their own cash, with limited or no government support…
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