The Green Tank poll on the future of heating and district heating in Western Macedonia – where it was found that 7 out of 10 citizens of the region want a review of the current gas-based plan – was one of the topics discussed in an interview with Nikos Mantzaris on SKAI 100.3’s “Euranet”, hosted by Nikos Andritsos.
As he explained, the right solution that will offer affordable heating prices to consumers and comply with the requirements of the Green Deal is a mix of renewable energy technologies.
This has been implemented in other European countries. For example, in Denmark, which has an extensive district heating network that covers the heating needs of half of its population, the share of RES in this was 78% in 2023. At the same time, countries such as Latvia and Hungary are turning to biomass, solar thermal and geothermal.
In general, beyond heating, the decarbonization of various sectors of the economy (such as industry and transport) is feasible, but it needs to be done quickly, with proper prioritization and correct end-uses.
Responding to a question on the green transition and industrial competitiveness, Nikos Mantzaris stressed that industries need to become green to ensure their competitiveness.
Moreover, he described as a particularly positive development the fact that the largest Greek industries have already turned to carbonisation programmes for their processes, pioneering the disbursement of resources from the Innovation Fund of the European Emission Trading System (ETS).
In response to another question on green hydrogen, he noted that it is the big challenge of the next decade and its development must start now – not in heating or power generation where we have cheaper and cleaner solutions, but in sectors that are difficult to decarbonize such as heavy vehicles, aviation and shipping.
The radio show was broadcast on Sunday 21 July and it is available in Greek here.
