Kazakhstan, a vast land located in Central Asia, has unique geographical and climatic conditions. Its winter is long and cold, with temperatures in some areas often dropping below minus 20 degrees Celsius, and in extreme cases even dropping to minus 50 degrees Celsius, making heating a crucial part of the lives of residents in Kazakhstan. The heating methods in the country are diverse and rich, retaining traditional methods while constantly exploring and applying new technologies and concepts.
In urban areas, centralized heating systems dominate. Thermal power plants or boiler rooms serve as heat sources, transporting heat to various residential buildings and structures through a vast network of pipelines. The advantages of this heating method are significant, as it can achieve large-scale heat supply, has high energy utilization efficiency, and is easy to manage and maintain uniformly. Taking major cities such as Almaty and Nur Sultan as examples, centralized heating systems cover the vast majority of urban areas, providing residents with stable and reliable warmth during the harsh winter weather. However, this traditional centralized heating also faces some challenges. Many heating networks are old and severely aged. For example, the heating network in Taraz has not been updated for 35 years, with an aging degree of over 60%. This not only leads to significant heat loss during transmission, but also frequent malfunctions, affecting the stability of heating. Moreover, centralized heating relies heavily on fossil fuels such as coal, which releases a large amount of pollutants such as fine particulate matter during combustion, seriously affecting air quality and endangering residents’ health. The World Bank report points out that in Nur Sudan and Almaty, fine particulate matter emitted from household coal and coal-fired cogeneration plants is the main source of air pollution, posing a great threat to residents’ health.
In rural areas, due to dispersed living, independent heating systems are more common. Gas boilers are favored by many farmers due to their convenient use and rapid heating. Solid fuel stoves are also quite popular, and farmers can use wood, coal, and other materials as fuel. In some areas where natural gas supply is interrupted or access costs are high, residents may even reconsider using coal for heating. However, solid fuel stoves also generate a large amount of pollutants during combustion, causing pollution to indoor and outdoor air environments. Electric heating equipment, such as electric heaters, electric underfloor heating, etc., are becoming increasingly widely used with the gradual improvement of power infrastructure in rural areas. Electric heating equipment has the advantages of cleanliness and convenient temperature control, especially suitable for heating needs in small spaces. In some new residential and old house renovation projects, the demand for electric underfloor heating is showing a growing trend.
In order to address the energy and environmental issues caused by traditional heating methods, Kazakhstan is actively exploring new heating technologies and solutions. Ground source heat pump system is one of them, which is regarded as a high-quality solution for transitioning towards green heating. Through underground buried heat exchangers, ground source heat pump systems can utilize shallow geothermal energy to achieve efficient heating and cooling. Under the climate conditions in Kazakhstan, relevant research and practice have shown that ground source heat pump systems can not only effectively meet the heating needs of buildings, but also significantly reduce dependence on traditional fossil fuels and carbon emissions. However, the initial investment cost of ground source heat pump systems is relatively high, and the technical requirements are also relatively complex, which to some extent limits their large-scale promotion and application. Solar heating has gradually entered people’s vision, and Kazakhstan has abundant solar energy resources, providing unique conditions for the development of solar heating. The application of devices such as solar water heaters, solar stoves, and solar heating systems can convert solar energy into heat energy for household hot water supply and space heating. Although solar heating has many advantages such as cleanliness and renewability, it is also constrained by factors such as weather and sunshine hours, and its stability needs to be further improved.
From the perspective of development trends, the government of Kazakhstan is committed to promoting the adjustment and optimization of energy structure, improving energy utilization efficiency, and reducing environmental impact. In the field of heating, on the one hand, efforts will be made to upgrade and transform traditional heating infrastructure, improve the insulation performance and transmission efficiency of heating pipelines, and reduce energy loss; On the other hand, we will further encourage and support the research and application of new energy heating technologies, and reduce the cost of using new energy heating equipment and improve its market competitiveness through policy guidance and financial support. With the continuous enhancement of people’s environmental awareness, the demand for clean energy heating will also continue to grow, which will bring new development opportunities and changes to Kazakhstan’s heating industry.
