Heating degree days

Assessment versions

Published (reviewed and quality assured)

• Heating degree days (CLIM 047) - Assessment published Nov 2012

Justification for indicator selection

A ‘Heating Degree Day’ (HDD) is a proxy for the energy demand needed to heat a home or a business; it is derived from measurements of outside air temperature. The heating requirements for a given structure at a specific location are considered to be to some degree proportional to the number of HDD at that location. However, they also depend on a large number of other factors, notably in relation to income levels, building design, energy systems and behavioural aspects. HDD are defined relative to a base temperature, the outside temperature below which a building is assumed to need heating.

Space heating is responsible for a large component of European energy use, so a decrease in the use of space heating has the potential to lead to a significant decrease in overall energy use. There are many contributory factors to heating demand, such as the energy performance of the building envelope, the type of heating system available, occupant behaviour and energy prices. However, the external temperature is the only component which is directly affected by climate change. The number of HDD is therefore a proxy for the energy demand for space heating, and hence an indicator for possible changes in overall energy use directly related to climate change.

An increase in cooling demand would off-set in part or completely the gains from a reduced energy demand for space heating and the effects resulting from a reduction in heating demand. While heating is delivered to end users in different ways (individual boilers fuelled by oil, gas, and coal, and electricity and district heating), cooling is delivered currently almost exclusively through electricity. As a result, a given increase in cooling demand is generally associated with higher costs, a higher increase in primary energy demand and larger impacts on the peak capacity of supply networks than the same decrease in heating demand.

Scientific references:

• IPCC 2007: Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007. M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden and C.E. Hanson (eds), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.

Indicator definition

• Trend in heating degree days in the EU-27

Units

• Heating Degree Days (HDD)/year

Policy context and targets

Context description

In April 2009 the European Commission presented a White Paper on the framework for adaptation policies and measures to reduce the European Union's vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. The White Paper stresses the need to improve the knowledge base and to mainstream adaptation into existing and new EU policies. The European Commission will be publishing an EU Adaptation Strategy in 2013. A number of Member States have already taken action, and several have prepared national adaptation plans.

The European Commission and the European Environment Agency have developed the European Climate Adaptation Platform (Climate-ADAPT, http://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/) to share knowledge on observed and projected climate change and its impacts on environmental and social systems and on human health; on relevant research; on EU, national and subnational adaptation strategies and plans; and on adaptation case studies.

Targets

No targets have been specified.

Related policy documents

• Climate-ADAPT: Mainstreaming adaptation in EU sector policies
  Overview of EU sector policies in which mainstreaming of adaptation to climate change is ongoing or explored
• Climate-ADAPT: National adaptation strategies
  Overview of activities of EEA member countries in preparing, developing and implementing adaptation strategies
• DG Climate Action: What is the EU doing about climate change?
  Activities of the EU regarding climate change (both mitigation and adaptation)
• White paper - Adapting to climate change: towards a European framework for action
  EU framework for adaptation to climate change, leading to a comprehensive EU adaptation strategy by 2013

Methodology

Methodology for indicator calculation

Eurostat calculates HDD as (18 °C - Tm) x d if Tm is lower than or equal to 15 °C (heating threshold) and zero if Tm is greater than 15 °C, where Tm is the mean (Tmin + Tmax / 2) outdoor temperature over a given period of d days.

A trend line has been added.

Methodology for gap filling

Not applicable

Methodology references

• Energy statistics - heating degree-days Reference Metadata in Euro SDMX Metadata Structure (ESMS) Compiling agency: Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

Data specifications

EEA data references

• No datasets have been specified here.

External data references

• Heating degree days - annual data

Data sources in latest figures

Uncertainties

Methodology uncertainty

Not applicable

Data sets uncertainty

Data for calculation of HDD have been collected by Eurostat for decades; this indicator can therefore be considered as very reliable. The same data used could also be used for the calculation of cooling degree days. Such an indicator is currently not available even though it would be highly policy-relevant and could be calculated with little additional effort. It should be noted that the indicator HDD is a purely physical metric, which does not consider differences in technical, social and economic factors (housing quality, behaviour, prices, etc.) between regions and their development over time.

Further information on uncertainties is provided in Section 1.7 of the EEA report on Climate change, impacts, and vulnerability in Europe 2012 (http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/climate-impacts-and-vulnerability-2012/)

Rationale uncertainty

No uncertainty has been specified