The REPLACE final conference will take place on 21 March. Among other things, the topics to be addressed were discussed at the REPLACE consortium meeting on 1.2.2023. The multiple-crises and key findings of the project on possibilities how to react to them locally to nevertheless facilitate the phase-out of oil and natural gas towards sustainable heating and cooling in Europe will be the focus of the REPLACE final conference. In addition, the barriers and challenges that exist, as well as possible supporting framework conditions when replacing old, conventional fossil fuel systems with renewable ones will be discussed. The event will take place in a hybrid format, with the possibility to participate on-site in Brussels, but also online.
A round table on the market situation in the project countries was another key point at the meeting on 1 February. It focused on challenges and barriers in heating exchange, like the increasing rate of energy poverty, on the current need for support like additional manufacturing capacities and qualified staff, or things that work well in heating replacements like subsidies or consumer advice centres. Other topics at the round table discussion included the needs on the political level and recommendations for improvements on the market side.
The REPLACE project will come to an end in April 2023. REPLACE’s final conference on 21.3. offers the opportunity to learn about the transition to renewable heating and cooling in Europe in a challenging situation of multiple-crises in a compact way and to join in the discussion. The invitation to the event will follow shortly. Further reports that will be published in the next months before the project ends, will provide an additional overview of how to change things for the better on the European residential heat markets, where about 58% of the installed heaters [1] are still old and inefficient oil and natural gas heaters.
[1]https://heating-retrofit.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/HARP-Workshop-EHI-Presentation.pdf