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Graz (OTS) – The current study “How Austria’s provincial capitals heat” by GLOBAL-2000 shows a great need for action in Graz. “Graz still has a heat supply that is severely harmful to the climate. The climate strategy currently being developed by the city is an opportunity to build on positive developments and rectify undesirable developments. In particular, a clear path is needed to phase out climate-damaging natural gas by 2040,” says Johannes Wahlmüller, climate and energy spokesman for GLOBAL 2000.
About 18 percent of the heating requirements of Graz households are covered by climate-damaging natural gas, 8 percent by heating oil, 2 percent by coal and 48 percent by district heating. Electricity accounts for 19 percent and renewable energies for 5 percent. 78 percent of the district heating is made from natural gas. Recently, it became known in the media that district heating is increasingly being produced with heating oil, which clearly runs counter to the climate goals. Many outdated oil heating systems have been converted to gas in recent years. However, 75 to 80 percent of the climate-damaging emissions then remain, which contradicts the climate targets. It has been possible to increase the proportion of waste heat from industrial plants, such as the Sapi paper factory, to 20 percent. However, large projects such as “Big solar”, which were intended to use solar thermal energy on a large scale, have not been implemented to date. The phase-out of coal in 2020 marks a major turning point in Graz’s district heating supply. However, significantly more effort is required to replace climate-damaging natural gas with climate-friendly technologies.
The entire state capital study can be found here HERE.
All graphics for the study can be found here HERE.
Questions & contact:
Viktoria Auer, spokeswoman for GLOBAL 2000, viktoria.auer@global2000.at, 0699 14 2000 82
Johannes Wahlmüller, climate and energy spokesman GLOBAL 2000, johannes.wahlmüller@global2000.at, 0699 14 2000 41
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