Abstract
The aim of this investigation is to fill in the knowledge gaps of the space heating and cooling market in Europe. While the space heating market is already well researched, there is a lack of information concerning
air-conditioning. Following a bottom-up approach, data of the actual space heating and cooling market are collected and analysed. Next, air-conditioning market information was retrieved through a topdown approach and compared with bottom-up acquired data. Results indicate the energy consumption for space cooling in the EU28 to be almost 70 TWh/y, while the European Commission underestimates this value by approximately 60-70%. According to the findings from the bottom-up approach, the ratio between total potential and existing energy consumption is around 9:1 for air-conditioning and almost 1:1 for space heating. The EU15 is responsible for practically the entire space cooling consumption (~93%) of the EU28, with about 63 of the
total 68 TWh/y. In contrast, the whole potential of recent member states comes out to be enormous, around four times its present energy consumption for air-conditioning. The space heating market is almost fully saturated, whilst the space cooling market in Europe is characterized by a high potential for growth, especially in households.