Duncan Gibb advises on the technologies, policies and data needed to switch to clean heating. He leads RAP's European work on the economics of heat pumps and has published multiple papers, notably on economics and policy, the Renewable Energy Directive and cold-climate heat pumps. Duncan joined RAP’s Europe team in 2022 with more than 10 years’ experience in energy research and policy analysis.
Prior to joining RAP, Gibb was a lead analyst and project manager at REN21 in Paris, a global network on renewable energy, where his focus was on writing and publishing the influential Renewables Global Status Report. His work analysed worldwide trends and developments in renewable energy policy, markets and industries and contemporary issues, including system integration of renewables. At REN21, he published several major reports, including a study on renewable heating and cooling policy written with the International Renewable Energy Agency and the International Energy Agency. He also has served as co-author, advisor and reviewer to multiple international energy publications.
Duncan Gibb previously worked at the German Aerospace Center in Stuttgart, where he coordinated the center’s research on thermal energy storage within international research networks. Prior to that, he carried out technical research on thin-film solar cells at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg, Germany.
He is an engineer by training, holding a Master of Science in renewable energy management from the University of Freiburg and a Bachelor of Chemical and Process Engineering from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada.
A native Canadian, Duncan speaks fluent English, French and German.
How Duncan Gibb is Energizing Change
A policy toolkit for global mass heat pump deployment version 2.0
Heat pumps, a critical technology for clean energy systems, are becoming the most important technology for heating… Read More +
One foot in the past: The role of hybrid heat pumps in Europe
Reducing emissions in Europe’s buildings necessitates replacing fossil fuel boilers with greener alternatives. Hybrid heat pumps have… Read More +
How did you catch the “energy” bug?
I'm an engineer by training, but I caught the "clean energy" bug through learning about climate change during my undergraduate. This was back in 2008, and I was convinced that there were sustainable and environmentally-friendly alternatives to producing our energy. I was sure that we didn't have to rely on fossil fuels. This led me to explore the still-tiny world of solar and wind power. Even though I was optimistic about the future of renewables at the time, I would never have believed these two technologies would grow so rapidly. Now I work mainly on decarbonizing heating in buildings and I hope to see rapid strides in that area as well. It's much needed!
What’s your passion outside of RAP/clean energy?
This will be a very honest answer. I am always striving to improve at things, whether it be guitar, chess or computer programming. For example, I try to be active in my free time. I have run five half-marathons in my life and I regularly play competitive tennis. I take a very methodological approach to improving at running and tennis. That means planning things, targeting specific skills, sticking to a schedule and remembering that it's the small gains that lead to big improvements. I try to use that approach in my professional life as well.
If I were a superhero, my superpower would be empathy. I think a lack of empathy, or an unwillingness for people to put themselves in others' shoes, is largely at the root of many of our problems. Once we're able to relate to a person's experience, all of these tribal walls and ingrained beliefs start to fade away. So I would fly around the world beaming empathy at people. Call me Captain Dogooder.