Global Energy Transformation - The Crucial Role of Renewable Heating, Cooling, and Storage

The global energy transformation requires a holistic energy system transition not just for electricity supply, but also a deep and fundamental change to how heat and cooling energy services are provided - all within the larger context of balancing energy supply and demand. This scene-setting presentation drew on the International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA) recent Global Energy Transformation report and detail a view on how this transition can be scaled up quickly and affordably. It highlighted how the transition can be driven by an important synergy between increasingly affordable renewable power technologies and the wider adoption of electric technologies for end-use applications and also touched on some of the key topics around balancing energy supply, which will increasingly come from variable sources such as solar and wind, and end-user demand.