ShareThe IIR is proud to be a consortium partner of the newly launched competence centre for sustainable heating and cooling – HEAT-X
Hatef Madani, Professor at the Department of Energy Technology at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Vice-President of IIR Commission E2 (Heat Pumps & Energy Recovery) is leading the new Swedish Energy Agency-funded centre aiming to shape the future of sustainable heating and cooling solutions.
"Uniting seven Swedish universities, about 40 industry partners, and 10 prestigious global research institutions, HEAT-X conducts collaborative research across two main areas: Buildings and Cities, and Energy-Intensive Industry and Infrastructure. The centre connects component innovation, such as next-generation heating and cooling, with large-scale system integration, renovation, AI-driven control, and industrial waste heat recovery. By combining technical research with enabling disciplines like policy, circular business models, and human behaviour, HEAT-X accelerates the deployment of efficient, resilient heating and cooling solutions for a sustainable energy system." - Hatef Madani (Source).
The IIR will be participating in the project with a focus on policy and facilitating international collaboration as we firmly believe that Heating and Cooling policy should be conceptualised as a comprehensive policy domain, while also cooperating with other regional competence centres. Heating and Cooling policy could serve as mechanism with which countries could manage the thermal demand as a system or service rather than a set of isolated technologies. The research that will be conducted through HEAT-X aims to provide the conceptual, institutional, and policy foundations needed for Heating and Cooling to be recognised and governed as a cross sectoral field.
As a consortium partner, we join an ambitious team of global experts, and are specifically looking to conduct comparative analyses of governance models, create a taxonomy of policy instruments and put forward policy to allow governments and development agencies to strengthen industry, governments and research inter-sectorial coordination on heating and cooling systems integration and promote cooperation on heating and cooling expertise globally.
HEAT-X will begin on 4 January 2027, and we look forward to the collaboration and results this project is set to bring.
Further reading - https://www.kth.se/en/om/nyheter/lokala-nyheter/nytt-kompetenscentrum-for-hallbar-varme-och-kyla-1.1501322