100. Calls for greater attention to be paid to the heat and cooling sectors; calls, in this respects, on the EU to consider the full integration of the heating and cooling sector into the transformation of the energy system; notes that this sector today represents ca. 45 % of the final energy consumption in Europe, and that a better understanding of the important role of heating and cooling is needed; calls on the Commission, therefore, to gather the required data reflecting the energy sources for and uses of heating and cooling, as well as the distribution of heat to different groups of final consumers (e.g. residential, industry, tertiary); encourages the development of combined heat and power plants that use renewable or recovered an ...[+++]d waste heat, and supports further research on cooling and heating systems with a view to executing the EU’s ambitious policy; calls on public authorities to update demand forecasts on the 2050 horizon and to produce impact assessments of regional underground conditions in order to optimise resource allocation; calls, furthermore, on the Commission and the Member States to allocate increased funding to local energy infrastructures such as district heating and cooling – including through RD and innovative financial instruments – that bring about efficient, low- and no-carbon solutions that will substitute the import and European-wide exchange/transport of energy; notes that readily available renewable energy solutions (geothermal, biomass including biodegradable waste, solar thermal and hydro/aerothermal), in combination with energy efficiency measures, have the potential to decarbonise the heat demand by 2050 in a more cost-effective way, while addressing the problem of energy poverty;

In this context, the energy present in oceans and other water bodies in the form of waves, marine currents, tides, ocean thermal energy gradients or salinity gradients should be included.

‘district heating’ or ‘district cooling’ means the distribution of thermal energy in the form of steam, hot water or chilled liquids, from a central source of production through a network to multiple buildings or sites, for the use of space or process heating or cooling.

(g)‘district heating’ or ‘district cooling’ means the distribution of thermal energy in the form of steam, hot water or chilled liquids, from a central source of production through a network to multiple buildings or sites, for the use of space or process heating or cooling.

(da) improvements to building shells and structures aimed at achieving summer comfort at no or low energy consumption, such as technologies to control fluxes of heat and solar radiation (higher thermal insulation of walls, low emissivity and solar control glazing, ventilated roofs with radiant barriers), technologies for the connection of buildings to low temperature environmental sources in summer (coupling with soil through air or water circulation, night ventilation accompanied with increased thermal mass); improvements to building shells and structures aimed at achieving winter comfort (thicker walls, roof and basement insulation, w ...[+++]indow frames with low transmittance and low infiltration rate, low emissivity glazing);

improvements to building shells and structures aimed at achieving summer comfort at no or low energy consumption, such as technologies to control fluxes of heat and solar radiation (higher thermal insulation of walls, low emissivity and solar control glazing, ventilated roofs with radiant barriers), technologies for the connection of buildings to low temperature environmental sources in summer (coupling with soil through air or water circulation, night ventilation accompanied with increased thermal mass); improvements to building shells and structures aimed at achieving winter comfort (thicker walls, roof and basement insulation, window ...[+++] frames with low transmittance and low infiltration rate, low emissivity glazing);