A roadmap to climate neutrality in the heating sector by 2040 for an Austrian municipality (Stadt Haag)

Abstract

This thesis seeks to develop a concept for how to change the heat supply of the city of Haag (Lower Austria) to carbon-neutral sources in line with the Austrian national target of carbon neutrality by 2040. It describes the role of the heating sector in final energy consumption and its contribution to climate change and explains relevant legislative frameworks. It provides an overview of renewable heating technologies, touching also on the role of district heating networks and heat storage systems. For the specific case study, a mid-sized rural municipality in Austria which is not connected to a major urban centre nor does it have significant sources of heat in its surroundings, it then develops a bottom-up model to calculate the useful energy demand for heating on a household and building level. It forecasts the development of energy demand by 2040, taking into account population growth, development of average temperatures,thermal renovation progress and changes in user behavior. It then analyses energy carriers currently supplying this demand and calculates today ́s primary energy consumption and carbon emissions for the sector at municipality level. The study concludes on the feasibility of a district heating network as an initial key decision when it comes to the transition to a renewable heating sector and then develops high-level strategies to switch energy carriers for different sets of buildings for their forecasted 2040 demand. The selection of strategies considers thermal quality of the building as well as renovation progress and, in the absence of any other major heat sources and a district heating network, relies mainly on heat pumps and biomass, considering local biomass availability. It then calculates the emission reduction potential from implementing those strategies and analyses how to deal with a low level of remaining emissions to achieve a carbon-neutral position for the sector by 2040. It concludes with providing concrete implementation recommendations to Haag including key milestones, thoughts on how to create and sustain momentum and motivation of citizens, and a proposal of Key Performance Indicators to track progress.