Green heating: €5.7m EU boost for low carbon home heating research

A €5.7m green heating research project led by renewable energy experts from the University of Exeter has been launched in a bid to pave the way for the adoption of domestic low carbon heating systems across England and four EU countries.

Dubbed SHIFFT - Sustainable Heating: Implementation of Fossil-Free Technology - the project is backed by €5.7m of EU funding and is designed to help transform low carbon heating in houses and public spaces, the University of Exeter announced late last week.

The team of international experts behind the project includes six University of Exeter researchers, who will work with consumers and local authorities to develop practical strategies, minimise costs, and deliver low carbon heat projects in England, France, the Netherlands and Belgium, it explained.

"Right now, most of our homes and buildings are heated by burning gas, with much of that heat lost due to poor insulation - this is unsustainable," said Professor Peter Connor, one of the University's sustainable energy experts leading the project. "We need a rapid, large-scale shift to renewable heating technologies and a programme of energy efficiency measures to hit European carbon targets."

Heat accounts for around 79 per cent of energy consumption in a typical European household, but most consumers at present have little awareness of low carbon alternatives for keeping their homes warm, Connor explained.

"Crucially, this project demonstrates the idea that the transition to low carbon heating in our buildings must be done with the people living in them, rather than being done to people," he added.

The project will see ten SHIFFT partners develop sustainable heating strategies for four partner cities -Mechelen and Bruges in Belgium, Middelburg in the Netherlands and Fourmies in France - with support from French consultancy CD2E, Belgian energy agency De Schakelaar and the Dutch Delft University of Technology.

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• Topics
• Infrastructure
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• Exeter
• green heat
• low-carbon heating