21 April 2009: During the annual meeting of COGEN Europe (the European Association for the Promotion of Cogeneration), which is taking place in Brussels, Belgium, from 21-22 April 2009, Tom Kerr, International Energy Agency (IEA) Senior Energy Analyst, launched a new IEA report titled “Cogeneration and District Energy: Sustainable Energy Technologies for Today…and Tomorrow.” The report highlights that cogeneration and district energy – technologies that are widely available and cost‐effective – can largely contribute to global energy security and climate change mitigation.

The report further finds that many countries, including Denmark, the Netherlands and the Republic of Korea, have successfully used combined heat and power (CHP) and district heating and cooling (DHC) as a strategy to lower energy imports and dramatically increase energy supply efficiency. The report identifies the solutions that some countries have used to advance CHP market penetration, setting out a ‘’how to” guide with options to consider when implementing the policies. Kerr underscored that these technologies do not need significant financial incentives, but rather “the creation of a government ‘champion’ to identify and address market barriers that frequently impede greater use of CHP.” [The report]