Heat Roadmap Austria: Quantifying the Impact of Low-Carbon Heating and Cooling Roadmaps

The aim of Heat Roadmap Europe 4 (HRE4) is to create the scientific evidence required to support the decarbonisation of the heating and cooling sector in Europe and to redesign this sector by combining the knowledge of local heating markets, potential savings and energy system analysis. In particular, HRE4 aims to develop low-carbon heating and cooling strategies, called Heat Roadmaps, for 14 European Union member states (including Austria) and allow for a better understanding and more accurate quantification of the European heating and cooling sector. The project covers countries equivalent to 90% of the European heat demands.
Key to the project is the combination of mapping and energy system modelling, in order to be able to understand not just the system effects of energy efficiency but also the spatial dimension. Therefore, the approach in HRE4 brings together energy system analysis with spatial planning tools and provides an in-depth understanding of thermal demands in built environment and industry, including both heating and cooling.
HRE4 involves the most detailed spatial mapping of heat demands and renewable heat resources up to date; includes the potential for reducing heat demands through costefficient energy efficiency measures in both the heating and the cooling sector; integrates industrial sectors to quantify heat demands; and models both long term projections and hour-by-hour energy systems.
In addition to this report, which described the specific findings and Heat Roadmap for Austria, a variety of tools, methodologies and datasets have been developed in the context of the HRE4 project which are available at www.heatroadmap.eu and can provide further detail and background:
- A final report presenting the heating and cooling scenarios in HRE4, and 14
country reports.
- An updated version of the Pan-European Thermal Atlas, including Austria.
- An interactive dataset on the profiles for heating and cooling demands in Europe, breaking down the heating and cooling sector by demand type, sector, industry, and temperature, including for Austria.
- 56 freely available energy system simulation models (including 4 for Austria),
and an interactive dataset showing some of the key results.
- Deliverables on the methodologies, data, and capacity-building activities related to the HRE4 project.