If the aim is that of the Fit for 55, that is to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, let’s see today how Italy and Europe are moving towards a progressive decarbonization, also thanks to the contribution of associations such as Assotermica, of which IMIT is a member.
Decarbonization in construction
The decarbonization strategy provides for the strengthening of some important legislative instruments, through the consultation of some proposals relating to the revision of the directive on the energy performance of buildings and the package of gas standards, with the aim of speeding up the introduction of the market for new technologies, products and services.
The construction sector, in fact, is responsible for around 36% of CO2 emissions at EU level and plays a central role in achieving EU objectives.
Assotermica shares the strategy of stimulating the renovation of buildings, in line with the so-called “Renovation Wave”, although currently the proposals focus much more insulation, which is fundamental, but not the only one on which intervene.
It should be considered, in fact, that heating and the production of domestic hot water hold over 80% of the consumption of a home, which can be optimized through the modernization of existing systems, promoting technologies that are already currently and widely available.
Precisely for this reason, the Association “considers it important that the directive increasingly promotes an integrated approach to the design of the building / plant system without neglecting air conditioning and the production of domestic hot water”, as expressed last March in the Assotermica Note to the consultation the revision of the directive on the energy performance of buildings.
Decarbonization and green gas
In addition, the note also hopes that the new EPBD Directive will leave Member States the flexibility to be able to incentivize the installation of all types of heating systems compatible with decarbonisation, including technologies that can use green gases. Italy is a country in which buildings are extremely different from each other, with very specific needs, and at the moment the conversion of heating from gas to electric is not always easy feasibility, without forgetting that the industrial sector is already offering a wide range of range of solution suitable for the purpose!
There is a lot of talk about the role that electrically powered heat pumps can play, but even in a highly “electrified” scenario it will be necessary to consider that at least half of consumption in 2050 will be covered by other energy sources.
As we have already seen in this article, there are already hybrid gas / electric systems (which integrate an electric heat pump and a condensing boiler) and even the gas heaters on the market are already “green gas ready”, that is, ready for burn green gases such as bio-methane (100%) and are migrating towards “hydrogen ready” solutions, which involve the use of hydrogen in various percentages.
In this other note (Assotermica Position on Hydrogen and decarbonised Gas package) we also read:
“The conversion of heating from gas to electric often brings with it high costs and is not always easily feasible for a variety of reasons, from the need not to overload the electricity network to having to meet energy needs even in very cold climates and in buildings with high heat losses, with heating systems sized to work with medium-high temperatures of the heat transfer fluid (a condition in which the technologies that integrate gas combustion are even more effective and efficient). “
It could therefore be essential to foresee the development of green gases also in the domestic sphere, with an increasingly less energy dependence, especially in an unstable geopolitical context such as that of recent years.
IMIT, together with Assotermica, is committed to promoting new technologies of climate comfort, through a series of products dedicated to renewable energies, to safeguard our planet. To find out more, browse our website or download our catalog. For further requests, send an email to info@imit.it. Our staff will reply as soon as possible.