Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for Renewable ... - EGEC

4Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for Renewable Heating & CoolingRHC applications and priorities for non-residential buildings4.3.2 Research and innovation priorities with impact in the Medium and Long TermThe development of new types of biomass fuels could have a significant Medium and LongTerm impact. Research activities should focus on the following priority:• Development of advanced cost-efficient high quality solid and liquid biomass fuels fromagro-biomass, bio-degradable waste, forestry and aquatic biomass (BIO.8). Smart andsustainable supply chains should be demonstrated in all climatic regions of Europe,including improvements in biomass fuels storability, drying and logistics.Research and Innovation Priorities Predominant type of activity ImpactBIO.6 Cost effective solutions to reduce dust emissions Demonstration By 2020BIO.7BIO.8Cogeneration technologies and small scalebiomass gasification technologiesDevelopment of advanced cost-efficient high qualitysolid and liquid biomass fuels from agro-biomass,bio-degradable waste, forestry and aquatic biomassDevelopment By 2020Development/ Demonstration By 2030Table 8: research and innovation priorities for Bioenergy applications tonon-residential buildings4.4 Geothermal technologiesIn the services sector, shallow geothermal energy systems (ground source heat pumps orunderground thermal energy storage) is the most relevant technology, ranging in capacityfrom some 10 kW th for small businesses or offices, to 1 MW th or more for larger projects. Theability to provide both heat and cold is the major asset for shallow geothermal technologiesin this sector. Systems will generally be more complex than those for the residential sector,and the geothermal system in most cases will be combined with other technologies, creatinghybrid systems.Also deep geothermal energy (i.e. from boreholes deeper than 400m, or from high enthalpygeothermal resources) might be applicable in cases with higher heat demand. Many thermalspas have for a long time used geothermal heat for heating. Large offices, hospitals, etc. canuse deep geothermal heat. The relevant R&D-needs are included in Chapter 6 on districtheating.For the cost, the same basic facts as reported in Chapter 3 apply. However, in the non-residentialsector, the economy of plants usually is better, as a significant demand for coolingadds to the running time of the system, and also scale effects reduce specificfirst cost to less than 70 % of the specific cost of smaller, residential systems. Generallyless than 50 % of the cost goes into the underground works on these shallow geothermalinstallations.4.4.1 Research and innovation priorities with impact in the Short TermThe main R&D needs and priorities are similar to the issues raised for residential heatingcoolingactivities. The specific challenges in the services sector arise from the complexity ofthese systems and their varying demand, and from the size of the required ground couplinginstallation able to meet the higher capacities without exceeding the given limitations inavailable ground area.Typically, buildings in the service sector require both heating and cooling. Nonetheless, certainbuildings only express a cooling demand. Thus the underground must be operated not onlyas a renewable heat source, but also as a storage device for heat and cold.46