The REPLACE project has set out to motivate households in eight European countries to replace their inefficient heating and cooling systems with climate-friendly ones. The three following reports contain an overview of measures that have supported the heating and cooling system replacements in the REPLACE project regions. Copycats welcome.
Synthesis report on policy measures – Report D5.1
Policy programs and measures can support the replacement of inefficient heating and cooling systems with climate friendly ones. This report summarises the policy measures that were created and implemented during the REPLACE campaigns and activities. E.g. in the Bulgarian pilot region, REPLACE contributed to the better design and implementation of the municipal renewable energy plans. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, REPLACE partner Enova was involved in the Sarajevo Canton “Strategy for limiting the use of coal and other solid fuels in the Sarajevo Canton in the period 2021-2031” to improve air quality in winter months. The results and learnings of the REPLACE enabling activities are summarised in the D5.1 report.
Tackling gender, energy poverty, rebound and lock-in-aspects – Report D5.2
The phase-out of inefficient heating systems can be made more difficult by various aspects: The lack of financial resources, lack of access to information and high age can be a challenge here because the boiler exchange represents a high effort for them, especially for single people. Women in particular are often on their own in old age due to their higher life expectancy. In addition, there is the rebound effect, according to which consumers increase their use of energy services in response to the energy efficiency measures that had initially reduced their energy costs. And the lock-in effect, where households are bound to a heating system type and fuel until the end of its long lifespan. Report D5.2 shows what has been done in the REPLACE regions to effectively address these gender, energy poverty, rebound and lock-in issues.
REPLACE collective actions – Report D5.3
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the challenge of phasing out oil, natural gas, coal, inefficient firewood and electricity-only heating systems in Europe’s residential heating markets. This can also be observed in the development and implementation of collective actions to facilitate energy system transformation in the residential heating market. E.g. in the Austrian pilot region, the implemented collective action has resulted in a one-stop shop where on a web platform households can find all-inclusive suppliers for the system switch. In the Spanish pilot region Castilla y León, the collective action consisted in establishing local biomass fuel logistic hubs, a clear opportunity to both obtain more biomass, and create new autonomous employment in the former coal areas. The results and lessons learnt from setting up collective actions in the nine REPLACE pilot regions are briefly summarised in this D5.3 report.