International Union of the Associations of Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning Contractors

solid fuel heating installer

heating engineer

furnace installers foreman [ furnace installers forewoman ]

The Electrical Contractors Association of Switzerland [ ECAS ]

The Electrical Contractors'Association of Switzerland; ECAS

having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘An EU Strategy on Heating and Cooling’ (COM(2016)0051),

15. Notes that the EU building stock is responsible for approximately 40 % of final energy consumption, for the consumption of approximately 60 % of EU gas imports and for 36 % of CO2 emissions in the EU and that heating and cooling is the largest single source of energy demand in the EU; therefore calls on the Commission to address the potential efficiency gains in the buildings sector; stresses the need to modernise the heating sector, in particular district heating, to improve security of supply and increase energy efficiency; underlines the need to foster an even more ambitious policy in the area of energy savings in residential and office buildings through comprehensive insulation and advanced building ...[+++]design;

Welcomes the Commission communication of February 2016 on an EU strategy on heating and cooling, but highlights the lack of progress and low targets set for renewable use in heating and cooling, in particular in buildings; stresses the great potential for continued progress in renewable use in heating and cooling; notes that the heating and cooling sector accounts for half the EU’s final energy consumption and therefore plays a key role in achieving the EU objectives on climate and renewable energy resources; recognises the benefits of increasing renewable energy in the heating and cooling sector; stresses the increased flexibility of thermal infrastructure and storage in facilitating the integration of variable renewable sources by sto ...[+++]ring energy in the form of heat, offering excellent returns on investment and providing opportunities for enhancing quality local employment; calls on the Commission to bridge the regulatory gaps in the post-2020 renewables legislative package; reiterates that efforts in the heating and cooling sector hold great potential for increased energy security (given that 61 % of gas imported into the European Union is used in buildings, mainly for heating purposes), for example through the development of district heating/cooling networks, which are an efficient means of integrating sustainable heat into cities on a large scale, since they can simultaneously deliver heat derived from a range of sources and are not inherently dependent on any one source.

C. whereas 61 % of gas imported into the EU is used in buildings, mainly for heating purposes, and 75 % of these are residential buildings, and therefore any gas supply crisis is also a heat supply crisis; whereas the fastest and least costly way to reduce the gas consumption in the Union is the reduction of energy losses in residential buildings, providing energy security benefits; whereas the EU is without a strategy on heat as it relates to security of supply, decarbonisation or affordability and competitiveness; whereas any interruptions in heat gas supply leading to inadequate heating put at risk the health and wellbeing of a lar ...[+++]ge proportion of EU citizens;