Assessment of the Space Heating and Domestic Hot Water Market in Europe—Open Data and Results

Abstract

The paper investigates the European space heating (SH) and domestic hot water (DHW) market in order to close knowledge gaps concerning its size. The stimulus for this research arises from incongruences found in SH and DHW market’s data in spite of over two decades of scientific research. The given investigation has been carried out in the framework of the Hotmaps project (Horizon 2020—H2020), which aims at designing an open source toolbox to support urban planners, energy agencies, and public authorities in heating and cooling (H&C) planning on country, regional, and local levels. Our research collects and analyzes SH and DHW market data in the European Union (EU), specifically the amount of operative units, installed capacities, energy efficiency coefficients as well as equivalent full-load hours per equipment type and country, with a bottom-up approach. The analysis indicates that SH and DHW account for a significant portion of the total EU energy utilization (more than 20%), amounting to almost 3900 TWh/y. At the same time, the energy consumption provided by district heating (DH) systems exceeds the one of condensing boilers. While DH systems applications are growing throughout the EU, the replacement of elderly, conventional boilers progresses at a slower pace.