Almost 40% increase in Heat Pump sales 2022, is the performance taken for granted?

In Europe the heat pump sales have risen with 38% reaching almost 3 million units sold in 2022. Based on the REPowerEU ambition (to decrease the emissions of CO₂ and dependence on Russian fossil gas), this is expected to increase further the coming years. In 2030 the heat pump sales could surpass 12 million units sold. Reaching this will af course have a huge impact on the environment.

2021 the installed heat pumps was estimated to reduce CO₂ emission with 44 million tons. Roughly the same as Sweden’s total CO₂ emission.

So far so good!

 

Don’t take efficiency for granted!

The environmental impact of the expected increase in heat pump sales will be huge. However, the efficiency heat pumps actually have after installation is often overlooked as long as the right temperature is reached. Which leads to unnecessary energy consumption as well as CO₂ emission.

Based on thousands of analysed systems, we know that it usually is possible to save 10-30% of the energy by optimising system performance. One key in this is to utilise performance based commissioning.

How big is the impact?

WWF and Mission innovative estimates a huge saving potential in optimising heat pump, chiller and air conditioning systems which uses more than 20% of the global electricity! By using ClimaCheck to optimise these systems, it is possible to reduce the global electricity consumption with as much as 5% and reduce CO₂ emission with 100 MtCO2/year. A positive side effect; is that optimised and monitored systems are much more reliable with lower maintenance costs.

 

How to start and ensure that your system runs at optimal rate!

With an increasing number of heat pumps (and chillers) it is crucial to ensure that systems runs well. Otherwise, all possible savings won’t be achieved.

To avoid bad operation the performance, need to be analysed and a performance based commissioning should be performed.  Thereafter, it is necessary to have a plan how to move on.

Depending on the system size the approach will be different. For business critical and/or somewhat larger systems our suggestion is to monitored these 24/7 with ClimaCheck online to detect deviations when they start. This is done by implementing performance based predictive maintenance. As a result, it will be possible to fix problems causing deviations and avoid breakdowns as well as unnecessary energy consumption.

For smaller system 0-20 kW power input, a temporary performance analysis can be done either with ClimaCheck onsite or our new ClimaCheck lite which is connected via Bluetooth to your laptop.

Conclusion:

The economical, sustainable and environmental impact heat pumps have is expected to be huge. However, if the performance is taken for granted, and “the right temperature” is considered as a good measure of performance, the impact will be reduced.

This can easily be countered by continuously analyse performance. Thereafter, it is necessary to introduce performance based commissioning and predictive maintenance. When this is done, it is possible to ensure optimal operation from system start as well as it is possible to avoid breakdowns.

Many heat pumps are already installed, they should not be forgotten! These system should be analysed and optimised as well, to ensure that they run at optimal rate. This will give them an increased lifetime with lower energy consumption and less problems.

If you want our help to start, do not hesitate to contact us or download our guide  to help you get started.