Heat Pumps, Systems, and People: Why Clean Heating Needs Alignment

About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges and strategies for deploying clean heating solutions, particularly heat pumps, in Europe.

Europe has set ambitious targets for clean heating. Heat pumps are central to that strategy. Yet deployment continues to slow, especially in multi-apartment buildings and social housing. In this episode, Marine Cornelis explores why. Joined by Vladimir Gjorgievski and Louise Meister , the conversation moves beyond technology to examine how clean heating actually works in real buildings. Drawing on experiences from North Macedonia and Austria, the episode looks at: why heating and cooling must be planned together, how sector coupling translates into comfort, resilience, and bill stability, why upfront costs and risk allocation remain major barriers, and how business models and coordination determine success in collective housing. The discussion also reflects on lessons from contexts with limited gas infrastructure, the role of energy communities and flexibility, and what alignment means for EU and national policy frameworks. A grounded, systems-level conversation on scaling clean heating without shifting cost and risk onto residents. Energ' Ethic goes out every other week. Marine Cornelis is the founder of Next Energy Consumer, a policy consultancy working on energy poverty…

People in this episode

Host: Marine Cornelis

Guests: Vladimir Gjorgievski, Louise Meister

Topics covered

• clean heating
• heat pumps
• energy transition
• social housing
• sector coupling
• energy communities
• EU policy

Keywords

• clean heating
• heat pumps
• multi-apartment buildings
• energy policy
• cost barriers
• risk allocation
• energy communities

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Next Energy Consumer

Places: Europe, North Macedonia, Austria

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