ThinkGeoEnergy – Geothermal Energy News

Without (geothermal) heat transition no energy transition in Germany

This year’s German Geothermal Congress, held digitally, highlights that the much needed energy transition in Germany will not be possible without a heat transition, utilising renewable energy and in particular geothermal energy.

This year’s geothermal congress of the Federal Geothermal Association focuses on a central and yet hardly publicly perceived aspect of the energy transition. Experts from politics and science will discuss this and other topics in more than 150 specialist lectures and workshops from November 9th to 13th, 2020 – digitally due to the pandemic.

The heating and cooling market alone currently causes around 30 percent of German greenhouse gas emissions. These are numbers that show that without a heat transition, the absolutely necessary energy transition to combat the climate crisis cannot succeed! “The switch to an energy supply with a predominant share of renewable energies is not only an important step in the electricity sector, but also in the supply of heat in the building sector and in industrial use,” says Federal Economics Minister Peter Altmaier (CDU), who is the patron for this year’s digital geothermal congress.

Geothermal energy will play a decisive role on the way to emission-free, sustainable heat generation. This is the focus of this year’s geothermal energy congress. The German Geothermal Association has been able to attract well-known experts from research and politics. In addition to Altmaier, the Minister for Economics, Innovation, Digitization and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Andreas Pinkwart (FDP), will speak. In addition, Julia Verlinden, the spokeswoman for energy policy for the Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen parliamentary group, will address the topic of her keynote on Tuesday, November 10th: “Geothermal energy – an important piece of the puzzle for our future heat supply.”

In addition, practical experience and theoretical knowledge on specific topics are presented and discussed in numerous workshops and forums. The thematic spectrum ranges from usage concepts with cold local heating networks to the subsequent use of mining infrastructure for geothermal energy to the environmentally friendly expansion of near-surface geothermal systems. With a large number of English-language offers, the organizers also take account of the international dimension of the climate crisis. An ideal partner country has been found in the USA.

“We are very pleased that, despite the current exceptional global situation, we were able to set up an extensive and top-class program in digital form at our first geothermal congress. With the focus on the heating transition, we hope to be able to provide an impetus towards a climate-neutral future, because one thing is clear: Without a heating transition, there will be no energy transition! ” Erwin Knapek, President of the Federal Geothermal Association.

A complete program overview can be found at: https://www.der-geothermiekongress.de/

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