FLEXYNETS CO2 Emissions Reductions

Sustainability is a concept that has a powerful significance in FLEXYNETS: we think that contributing to lower the emissions of CO2 related to the operation of our buildings is one of the primary ways to respond to the challenges of the climate change.

FLEXYNETS is a project that has the potential to address the southern markets, because of its high adaptability to such climates. However, the diffusion in the northern ones is also to be regarded, as a consequence of the increased cooling demand in the next years, mostly in the tertiary sector. By offering a systematic solution for providing both heating and cooling as one of the primary objectives,

FLEXYNETS addresses highly unexplored markets in the southern countries, in addition to the usual ones. A huge market is offered for example by three large countries like Spain, Italy and France accounting for about 170 millions of citizens overall (35% of the total EU-28 population), 25% of the demand for heating and domestic hot water preparation (800 TWh/y only in the residential and office sectors) and 50% of the cooling demand (24 TWh/y again in the residential and office sectors) over Europe.

Extrapolating how much of this market can actually be addressed in the short-medium term is a hard task, since statistics are weak and only 5% to 7% of the population is served by district heating networks so far in the 3 countries mentioned. Assuming a Business as Usual scenario (5% growth rate per year), around 3% of the population (5 to 7 million people) could be reached by the FLEXYNETS solutions between 2020 and 2030.

This would results in Primary Energy savings for heating and cooling of 800 TWh/y * 3% * 50%, that is between 12 TWh/y. The cooling PE savings could be 24 TWh/y * 3% * 60%, resulting in 0.4 TWh/y. Note that the savings on the cooling demand are largely underestimated, since the calculation is made on today consumptions, whilst they are foreseen to grow between here and 2030. FLEXYNETS emissions reduction corresponds to space heating needs of three to five millions houses with a surface of 100 square meters, depending on their period of construction and insulation level.