McKinsey & Company
Summary
Industrial heat pumps can help decarbonize the industrial sector and district heating. To develop new solutions and increase uptake, heat pump OEMs and end users can start conversations in key areas.
As the world decarbonizes, industrial heat pumps can be applied to a range of use cases. The food and beverage, pulp and paper, and chemical industries are particularly well-suited for heat pump use because of their high energy demands. These industries also have relatively high energy-related emissions (approximately 15 percent of global energy-related industrial CO2 emissions according to McKinsey analysis), which heat pumps could help abate. Heat pumps could also play an important role in district heating. This sector accounts for approximately 1 percent of total CO2 emissions, with a fuel mix that is more than 90 percent fossil-based today. District heating is most relevant in China and Russia as well as multiple European countries (Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and Ukraine). Low-cost conventional heat has led to a high fossil-fuel share of 65 percent in district heating in the European Union, which is even higher in some countries, such as Germany and Poland, where the fossil-fuel share for district heating stands at more than 80 percent. This fossil-heavy fuel mix means that heat pumps offer strong abatement potential for district heating, and a number of decarbonization projects with industrial heat pumps in district heating have recently been announced.
Continue Reading
#News#DistrictHeating