Heating and cooling represent the largest demand in the energy sector today. This accounts for half of the EU’s final energy consumption and a large share of CO2 emissions. Demand for heat comes mainly from the residential, industrial and services sectors.

In EU households, space heating and hot water demand alone accounted for 79% of final energy consumption in 2020. In European buildings, space heating is mainly provided by fossil fuels such as gas and fuel oil. Only about 21% of the energy required for heating and cooling came from renewable sources. Heat from biomass or biofuels are only suitable to a limited extent due to their limited potential. Renewable electricity, especially from the sun and wind, is required in large quantities and must be integrated into the heating sector. This sector coupling is also seen as an important flexibility option for stabilizing an electricity system with large shares of fluctuating electricity generation.

In addition, the large-scale deployment of renewables in cities requires a switch to a grid-connected heat supply, and thus strategic heat planning. From this heat planning or heat master planning, the different options can be illuminated and measures for city districts, neighborhoods and individual buildings can be derived.

CCities aims to increase the expansion of renewable energies in all sectors and to help special municipalities and cities to make the right decisions for investments for sustainable heat planning.