The heating industry continues to move forward with establishing natural gas as the go-to source for the energy supply of residential buildings, while increasingly adding efficient fuel cell technologies and eco-gas to the mix. The members of the Zukunft Erdgas advocacy group expect oil to no longer play an important role as an energy carrier in the medium term, as they believe it will gradually be replaced by renewable gases. A recent study has shown that this could lead to an around 80 percent cut in CO2 emissions from heat supply.
During the E-world 2017 in Essen, Germany, in early February 2017, the association presented a new study titled “Heat Market 2050” to show how to decarbonize the market. Timm Kehler, chair of Zukunft Erdgas, explained: “Politics will definitely need to create incentives for property owners if they want them to upgrade heating systems in their buildings.” He added that “highly efficient gas technologies, such as the fuel cell” would assume a key role in the future. And the addition of renewable natural gas to power-to-gas processes could mean a considerable contribution to meeting that 80 percent target.
