Factbox: EU heating and cooling issue papers highlights

PARIS (Reuters) - Heating and cooling account for around 40 percent of European Union energy use but hardly feature in Brussels energy legislation. The European Commission plans to formulate a strategy for the sector by early 2016. After months of consultation with some 70 trade groups, it has drafted five "issue papers", which give a first indication of its vision. Below are excerpts from these documents. * Fossil fuels dominate heat supply in European buildings, representing around 63 percent of the total end use. Over 90 percent of space heating and hot water is produced from individual heating appliances; district heating is at 9 percent. * Cooling estimated to consume just 1 percent of final energy in the residential sector, 9 percent in the services sector, but exponential growth is seen. * European Heating Industry data: in 2012, 64 percent of installed space heating systems were traditional boilers, 26 percent condensing boilers, 6 percent biomass boilers, 2 percent heat pumps, 2 percent other technologies including micro-CHP. * Due to incentives, condensing boilers make up 56 percent of UK installed base; in Sweden heat pumps account for 46 percent. * Electricity accounts for about 14 percent of EU heating and cooling, well behind gas (43 percent) but ahead of biomass, fuel oil and district heating at 12, 11 and 9 percent. * Barriers to renewables use in heating are lack of public awareness, trained installers and financing. * Consumers usually buy or replace heating and cooling systems together with a new home or office. New-build and refurbishment rates are just 1 and 1.4 percent/year, so renewal is slow. * Some 75 percent of Europe's buildings are energy inefficient, and the great majority will remain in use beyond 2050. * District heating can use locally available renewable energy resources, including those that are hard to handle in small boilers, such as wood, straw and household waste. Natural gas is main fuel for district heating today. Biomass use increasing. * District heating networks can absorb large amounts of variable electricity through the use of large-scale heat pumps and electric boilers and thus play a role in balancing the power supply from variable renewable sources. * Cogeneration of heat and power can save 30 percent of primary energy compared to separate generation. (Reporting by Geert De Clercq, editing by David Evans)