Conclusions

The two following sections aim at drawing conclusions which could of interest and relevance to policy-making, both at European or national level. While the five hypotheses and the requirements of CHP can be discussed in quite neutral, value-free way, the different elements of a CHP-friendly policy framework are based on the normative assumption that the wider diffusion of CHP is a desirable objective. The issue of desirability has already been discussed in detail in Chapter 5, and it was pointed out that it depends very much on the standpoint, interests and priori­ties of individual actors. However, from a socio-economic perspective, it became clear that the wider diffusion of CHP would be indeed a positive development in many respects. Consequently, the framework aims to give indications of how the diffusion of CHP could be stimulated by policy means.