Role of the heat-exchangers in the factor 4 energy policy

The fact that the concentration of carbon dioxide is increasing steadily forces us to reconsider the ways in which we exploit fossil fuels. Current carbon dioxide emissions should be reduced by factor two. In case we don't take any actions to reduce emissions now, they will double in the future, due to the increase of energy use from the growing Earth's population. Therefore, we will have to deal with an emission reduction factor of four, merely to stabilize the Earth's climate. It is possible to reduce primary energy needs for 50 - 75% by introducing sustainable energy system and by increasing efficiency at energy conversion and use. Heat exchangers will play an important role in this respect. In this paper some ideas are presented about how to attain the desired reduction of energy use while at the same time preserving the current level of living comfort and transportation using high efficiency heat exchangers.