Our study provides a detailed overview of the current state of the residential heating sector in the Visegrad countries (V4 - Slovakia, Hungary, Czechia, Poland) in order to inform recommendations to reduce emissions from this challenging but high potential segment.
Czechia and Poland are most reliant on solid biofuels (fuelwood) and coal, while Hungary and Slovakia have two of the highest shares of natural gas in the European Union (EU27). All of the V4 countries consume more than the EU27 average of solid biofuels; biomass accounts for almost all of the renewable heat production while electrification and other renewable alternatives are well below the EU27 average.
Czechia and Hungary have significantly higher 2030 renewable heating and cooling targets than Poland and Slovakia but V4 national energy and climate plans (NECPs) include very little details on measures for heat decarbonisation outside of the primary role of biomass. Only Czech and Slovak targets include a share of heat pumps, and only Czechia and Poland have implemented boiler replacement schemes to reduce local air emissions.
With such a high dependency on fossil fuels, it is no surprise that GHG emissions per household in the V4 are well above the EU27 average. At the same time, energy consumption per house is also well above the EU27 average mainly because of aging Soviet-era heat networks and building stocks. District heating (DH) networks are widespread in V4 urban areas with a high percentage of household connections, but the share in final heat consumption is lower because of the basic energy requirements of smaller units.
The Russian-Ukrainian war has had a major impact on the sector, leading to a significant drop in V4 residential and industrial natural gas consumption in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the 2019-2021 average. This was mostly driven by behavioural change in response to higher prices, but also energy efficiency investments from the previous year and households switching to alternative fuels such as wood and coal.
In the case of both individual and DH, V4 energy efficiency measures need to come first to ensure electrification and renewables themselves operate most efficiently, especially given the poor condition of legacy building infrastructure. After residential buildings have been renovated, individual and network fossil-based heating will need to be replaced. In the case of the former, the options are electrification or biomass, and for the latter either focusing on coal to efficient combined heat and power plants (CHPs) using natural gas or directly to renewables like geothermal and solar energy, bypassing coal and gas inputs.
The study led to the following general policy recommendations for all V4 countries:
- Improving the energy efficiency of buildings through deep renovation is clearly the most effective way to decarbonise residential heating (the lowest hanging fruit) and a prerequisite for fuel switching (e.g. installing a heat pump). The "efficiency first" principle needs to be put into practice.
- DH can integrate several renewable energy and waste heat sources in large quantities
and cost-effectively. The V4 countries must ensure the preservation and, where economically justified, the expansion of these networks which they can jointly represent at
the EU level. - The effective rollout of heat pumps for individual heating requires preconditions, including improving the energy efficiency of buildings, upgrading the electricity grid, increasing demand-side flexibility and improving the supply chain.
- Biomass is affordable and relatively abundant, particularly suitable for remote 'off-grid'
areas where there are few alternatives. At the same time, sufficiency, sustainability and
impact on air quality should be carefully monitored and evaluated. - Household price regulation acts as a double-edged sword, protecting vulnerable consumers from high prices but keeping energy prices artificially low to discourage investment in energy efficiency. Energy poverty needs to be more clearly defined for targeted
regulated pricing that should be gradually phased out with increased support for energy efficiency investments.Decarbonisation of the Household Heating Sector in the Visegrad Countries
The paper was part of the V4ETTP 2023 programme supported by the International Visegrad Fund.