Industry is the biggest energy user worldwide, with heat representing 60% of its energy needs in the EU. However, around 80% of industrial process heating applications source their energy from fossil fuels. This makes process heating by far the largest contributor to industrial carbon emissions.
To tackle this issue, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is launching a series of renewable heating solution briefs aimed at providing guidance to industrial users on how to decarbonise their heat supply.
Solar Heat Europe actively contributed to the development of the recently published Solar Thermal Navigator Brief to raise awareness of solar thermal as a renewable and low-carbon heating technology for industry.
Solar heat has huge potential to be the route towards industry decarbonisation: It can provide temperatures up to 400°C, which represent half of the global industrial heat needs, by converting solar energy into heat in the form of hot water or steam. Under favourable conditions, solar thermal applications offer short payback periods of 3-5 years, making them a competitive and no-regret solution.