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In this issue

Air is wonderful, and not only by Bach. Not only does it provide us the oxygen that we breathe, but its heat content can also be used to heat our homes and provide our hot tap water. The only thing needed is an efficient heat pump to upgrade the free energy to useful heat. Reversible air-source heat pumps have been used for many years in air conditioning applications. In recent years, the market for heat pumps for heating has grown considerably, and even in cold climates as the technology comes of age. However, there are still many aspects that need to be improved. In this issue, you can read about various aspects of air-source heat pumps development.

The HPP would also like to welcome Italy and South Korea as new member countries of the HPP! Read more about this, and an interview with Mr. Park, ExCo delegate for South Korea, on the IEA HPP pages. An interview with Mr Restuccia from Italy will be published in the June issue of the newsletter.

By the way, I hope to see you all at the IEA HPP Conference in Zurich in May!! The conference program is very interesting, and the workshops look exciting too. Don’t miss it!

Roger Nordman
Editor, HPC Newsletter 

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From evolution to revolution by Neil Hirst Director Office of Energy Technology and R&D International Energy Agency

The threat of a 130% rise in CO₂ emissions between now and 2050 is alarming. Soaring oil prices remain a persistent worry. Today’s energy challenges are now truly critical. They are so critical that the normal evolutionary advances in ways energy is supplied and used are too slow to prevent irreversible damage to the global climate and unsustainable pressure on the world’s natural resources. In short, we have reached the stage where only a global revolution in the energy sector can steer us back on course.

Daunting though it sounds, such a revolution is possible, so long as industrialists are convinced of governments’ commitment to low-carbon technologies, and so long as all the major energy-consuming countries are on board. Using already existing technologies, together with well advanced new technologies, we could bring global CO₂ emissions back to current levels by 2050.

What are the implications of such a scenario for heat pumps? Their energy efficiency would need to improve by 25% between now and 2020. By 2050, heat pumps would have to be installed in around half of all homes in OECD countries.

But current levels of CO₂ emissions would be just as unsustainable in 2050 as they are today. Much more vigorous steps will certainly be needed. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change advocates a major CO₂ emissions reduction of between 50% and 85% – against 2000 levels – by 2050 to prevent the world’s temperatures from rising by more than 2.4°C. At their Summit Meeting in Heiligendamm in 2007, G8 leaders agreed to seriously consider targeting a global 50% reduction in emissions by 2050. What would it take to reduce CO₂ emissions to 50% below current levels by 2050?

Greater energy efficiency, as we know, offers the largest and least costly savings in energy use, and thus in CO₂ emissions. Efficiency improvements in buildings, appliances, transport, industry and power generation constitute the single most important category of improvements. Clearly, heat pumps have a very large role to play here. They are available today and are already widely used for both heating and hot water. Realising the full potential of heat pumps can be regarded as one of the most rational approaches within the mix of options that must be applied, across all sectors, around the world. The IEA estimates that heat pumps could save 770 megatonnes of CO₂ by 2050 compared to a business-as-usual scenario, as part of a drive to reduce global emissions by 50% compared to today’s emissions.

But such a performance would need concerted efforts among governments and industry. By 2020, the market would need to be offering energy-efficient heat pump and policies would need to be in place to support wide deployment of heat pumps for heating and cooling. Market penetration would be 75% greater than today. Heat pumps would be installed in up to 70% of all homes in OECD countries by 2050. 25% of industrial waste heat would be upgraded by heat pumps, which would be reducing energy use in commercial buildings by 25%. By 2020, all installers and equipment would have been certified. Getting to this point technologically would need continued steady improvements in coefficients of performance and in the effectiveness of air-to-air systems for low-temperature environments, building on significant recent advances.

The implications are clear regarding RD&D, but also regarding the need for policy environments where all buildings codes promote energy conservation and efficiency. More countries will need to recognise the major benefits of heat pumps if the necessary changes are to come about.

Facilitating the circulation of information is one of the most effective ways of promoting change. As one of the leading providers of information on heat pumping technologies, their applications and their markets, the IEA Heat Pump Centre (IEA HPC) is making very considerable contributions to broadening awareness of the huge benefits of heat pumping technologies. IEA HPC is addressing a crucial need to promote demonstration and circulate objective information on performance and product quality.

We applaud the international collaborative efforts of IEA HPC and address all our good wishes to the organisers of the 9th IEA Heat Pump Conference in Zurich on 20-22 May. This conference will provide yet another excellent opportunity for this IEA programme to highlight the huge potential of heat pumps at an event drawing key figures from the heat-pumps community and from the circles where heat pumps can make a real difference in future. This event will make another welcome contribution to fostering the changes that are crucial if we are to preserve a world that we are proud to bequeath to our children and our grandchildren.

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