Kelvinova

Kelvinova is a new, independent, pro-innovation European non-profit advocacy organization, to be legally established early 2027 as a Dutch Foundation (Stichting).

Kelvinova’s mission is to electrify all new space heating and other low-temperature heating devices in Europe by 2035, and all buildings and low-temperature heat by 2050.

We do this by advocating for policies that make heat pumps and other combustion-free heating and cooling devices plentiful, affordable and investable.

Low-temperature heat (below 200°C, in buildings and industry) burns more than half of Europe’s gas. It causes almost 400 Mt CO2 a year directly and around 500 Mt CO2e on a lifecycle basis, across some 80 million homes plus commercial buildings and light industry. For exactly this use a proven, superior technology exists: the heat pump, delivering roughly 3.5 units of heat per unit of electricity.

Electrifying buildings and low-temperature heat would also end Europe’s dependence on imported LNG, one of its biggest economic and geopolitical headaches, and boost a cleantech industry in which Europe still leads.

About the name: Kelvin is best known for the absolute temperature scale, but he also formulated the second law of thermodynamics and pointed out in 1852 that heating homes by moving heat is far more efficient than by burning fuel. (i)nova stands for the innovation needed to scale his idea to an entire continent by 2050. Or 2052; a nice and precise 200 years after 1852.