Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 13 June 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Decarbonisation of the Heat Sector: Discussion

Dr. James Browne:

The straightforward answer is it is very much related to the processes. In manufacturing and industry, it is all about heating up water. To give the example of the brewing and distilling sector, we heat water for processing, brewing and cleaning and we produce steam to distil. It is all about the process and providing heat for the process. With the technologies we are talking about that use electricity, the electricity usage is to recover heat and boost the temperature in the system so additional fossil fuels do not have to be burned for hot water or steam production. It is focused on providing a clean manufacturing system whereby the heat is largely recycled and reused within the system. It is focused on hot water and steam for production of whatever. It could be applied to brewing, distilling, milk processing, pharmaceuticals or any process that uses heat.