Not only the effects of climate change, but also the current geopolitical and energy policy developments raise the awareness that the phase-out of the fossil dependencies with regard to our energy consumption is essential. The heating sector, with around 65 percent fossil supply, is heavily affected and faces enormous challenges in terms of the necessary turnaround. The “Renewable Heat Act”, which is supposed to regulate the phase-out of fossil fuels, is overdue and stuck in the division of competencies between the federal and state governments. Lost time, since the currently valid legal framework still allows gas heating systems to be installed even in new buildings. The current implementation status of the law, the framework as well as the envisaged timetable is presented in the lead article of the current issue of “nachhaltige technologien”. One of the key challenges of the heat transition is the decarbonization of district heating. Urban district heating in particular is heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Transforming existing centralized systems towards locally available, renewable energy sources goes hand in hand with decentralization and with sector coupling. The resulting increase in system complexity places additional demands on planning, implementation and operation and requires new approaches.

The large-scale research project ThermaFLEX has developed new approaches at the interface between research and application and implemented them in 10 demonstrators. It was impressively demonstrated that transformation can also be achieved quickly in heating networks. There are a total of five articles from ThermaFLEX in the current issue “Wärmenetze im Wandel”.

To the e-paper of this issue: https://www.aee-intec.at/zeitung/nachhaltige_technologien-2-2022/

To the e-paper archive: https://www.aee-intec.at/epaper-99