Public Content Library

Paige Davis, IDEA
July 14, 2017

Our members are always on the move, and this summer we have been too.
IDEA started the summer with a visit to Glasgow, UK to attend the Euroheat & Power Congress held on May 14-17. While attending, IDEA’s President and CEO, Rob Thornton was interviewed by Torsten Luetten from Savosolar.

Savosolar is a Finnish supplier of solar thermal technologies and has multiple operations across Europe. They were interested in finding out what Rob Thornton was seeing and learning at the Glasgow Congress.

“There’s always something new to learn.”

In Europe we see new technologies being deployed as cities find new strategies to move towards for efficient and sustainable energy. We also see solar thermal growing as one of those strategies for sustainable cities.

Torsten Luetten and Rob Thornton agree, most of the discussion and policy in Europe and North America regarding the transition to more sustainable energy is focused on electricity, but IDEA sees most of the opportunities for efficiency, reliability, and emissions reductions around thermal energy.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, nearly half of residential energy consumption is used for heating and cooling homes. Utilizing district heating technologies for climate change mitigation is certainly an area where North America can learn a lot from our European colleagues. This sector is largely overlooked in North America, but some people are getting it.

College and University campuses are looking at the long term and investing in solutions that are efficient, cost effective and help them achieve their sustainability goals. In other words, they are investing in district energy.