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Heat pumps are central to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. A US environmentalist claims that heat pumps could also help reduce Europe’s dependence of Russian gas. The market for heat pumps in Switzerland is slowly growing.
This content was published March 24, 2022 at 14:00
Just days after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Bill McKibben of the United States, an influential journalist and environmentalist, suggested that Europe be equipped to use heat pumps. A heat pump is a device that extracts heat energy form the air, water and ground and heats buildings. McKibben suggested that Europe could reduce its dependence on Russian gas and take a hard line against Vladimir Putin. According to Bloomberg calculations Russia exports more oil and gas per day than $1 billion. Much of this goes to Europe.
McKibben said that American companies could increase production of heat pumps that run on electricity and export them to Europe. Potentially, that could be used to electrify some of 75 million homes across Europe and the United Kingdom which currently depend on Russian gaz.
He suggested that President Joe Biden invoke The Defense Production Act (DPA) to speed up production. This law gives federal agencies the ability to increase the supply of materials and services related to national defense. The DPA was already used to combat the coronavirus pandemic and to increase production of ventilators and masks.
McKibben may find McKibbens proposal a little odd. It’s not too far-fetched. According to Washington Post, the White House has been seriously considering it. The newspaper reports that it is a solution that could be used by Europe if European leaders decide to reduce imports of Russian oil. Three people familiar with the matter spoke under the condition of anonymity to discuss private discussions.
The European Union announced its intention to eliminate its dependence on Russian-imported fossil fuels as a response to the conflict in Ukraine. It will adopt a plan to substitute heating gas, in order to do this.
Installation of a heatpump is not something that can be done quickly and often requires lengthy administrative processes. While we wait for the EU to decide on alternative fuels, one thing is certain: heat pumps can address another crisis. The climate one.
What is a heat pump? How does it work?
A heat pump is a device that extracts heat form the air, ground or water and heats a building.
Heat pumps work in the same way as a refrigerator by using electricity to transfer heat from a cold space to a warm one. They heat and cool indoor spaces in Summer, and warm them in Winter.
A heat pump, unlike a boiler, is not powered by oil or gas but by electricity. The heat pump is therefore more sustainable and efficient than traditional boilers for heating buildings, provided that the electricity comes primarily from renewable sources.
The number of heat pumps will triple by 2030
According to the International Energy Agency, there were approximately 177 million heat pump installations worldwide at the end 2020. Half of them are located in North America and China. They provide 7% of the global heating needs.
Norway (60%), Sweden (43%), and Finland (41% have the highest proportions of heat pump-heated buildings in Europe. The penetration rate in France and Italy, Germany, Spain, and Spain is much lower than that in Switzerland (18%), but it is still higher than that in Switzerland.
According to the IEA, heat pumps are one of the best ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve climate neutrality. However, they must be developed quickly and the number should more than triple by 2030, according to the agency.
“Until recently, however, the heat pump market has been growing far more slowly than required in the IEA scenario”, two experts write on the specialized website Carbon Brief. Future evolution, they say, will depend heavily on energy price trends, and government policies.
Two out of three buildings are still using fossil energy in Switzerland
According to the Federal Statistical Office data dating back to 2017, nearly two thirds of buildings in Switzerland are heated by fossil fuels. Nearly one fifth of homes are heated by gas, with nearly half (43%) imported from Russia.
Switzerland is the European country with the highest heating oil consumption. About 25% of national emissions are caused by the building sector. Heating pumps could help reduce these emissions. But price—CHF 60 000 per pump—and the lengthy energy renovation projects are stalling their rollout.
This trend is slowly changing. Switzerland has seen an increase in installation since 2000, especially in new residential buildings
“The proportion of buildings equipped with heat pumps has increased over the past few years, but we don’t have precise figures,” Sabine Hirsbrunner (communications manager for the federal government’s Buildings Program) tells SWI.swissinfo.ch.
The latest figures are from the Swiss Heat Pump Professional Association. They reported a 20% increase of installed devices in 2021 in line with international trends. Heat pumps accounted for more that half of all heating systems sold in Switzerland last year.
Glarus and Zurich are two examples
In Switzerland, there is not a blanket ban on installing oil or natural gas heating systems in new buildings. The state offers financial incentives to encourage the use more environmentally friendly heating systems during construction and renovation.
Switzerland has one of the highest tax incentives for fossil fuels. The rate of CO2 produced by diesel and gasoline increased from CHF96 per ton to CHF120 at the beginning 2022.
Philippe Thalmann (Professor of Environmental Economics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne) said that the CO2 tax is effective in the sector it is applied, namely fossilfuels for heat production. In fact, the building sector in Switzerland has experienced the largest reductions in emissions from 1990 to date.
Some cantons have introduced partial bans on heating with oil or gas in recent months. These regulations are stricter than those at national level. By popular vote, the most restrictive energy laws were passed in Zurich and Glarus. These laws state that fossil fuel-fired boilers should be replaced by sustainable and climate-neutral options at the end their lifecycle.
This will not be enough to end Switzerland’s dependence on Russian gas and fossil fuel imports, and might have little effect on Russia’s oil and gas revenues. It is one step closer to a carbon-free society.
Too low public incentives
According to a UBS report published in January, oil-fired boilers in Switzerland have been declining for many years. About 2% of installations (a total of 100,000 boilers) have been replaced since 2010. However, gas boilers have seen an increase of around 30,000.
UBS says that the incentives for governments to replace fossil fuel heating system are too low. UBS adds that Switzerland is unlikely meet its emission reduction targets for 2030 at the current pace. According to the Paris Agreement, Switzerland has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emission by at least 50% by 2030 compared to the 1990 level.
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