Heat Pumps Today

15 A White Paper published by The Chemours Company Low-GWP Refrigerants Setting the Benchmark in Heat Pump Efficiency Meeting Environmental Goals for New Builds and Renovations Driven by environmental regulations such as the F-Gas and the Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol, Heat Pump OEMs are seeking alternative refrigerant solutions. While regulations mandate the adoption of low-GWP refrigerants, overall energy e€ciency remains a major factor in both the selection of refrigerants, and in Heat Pump system design. As part of the European Green Deal, the 2030 greenhouse gas emission reduction target, including emissions and removals, was set to at least 55% of 1990-level emissions. Considering that almost 50% of end energy consumption in the EU is apportioned to heating and cooling, of which 80 % goes to buildings, Heat Pump technology is poised to be a standard-bearer in achieving these consequential targets. W H I T E P A P E R www.acrjournal.uk/heat-pumps European Commission: “…the integration of renewable and surplus energy into buildings. … photovoltaic solar panels on the roofs, thermal storage and Heat Pumps reduced energy costs for households.” in: Communication from the Commission to the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, A Renovation Wave for Europe - greening our buildings, creating jobs, improving lives, COM (2020) 662 final, Brussels, 14.10.2020. Thomas Nowak (EHPA): “100 % Renewable Energy with Heat Pumps is feasible today.” in: Heat Pumps; Integrating technologies to decarbonize heating and cooling, European Copper Institute, Autumn 2018. Simon Harvey: “Industrial HPs (Heat Pumps) have an important role to play!” in: The role of Heat Pumps for decarbonization of industrial processes, 12th IEA Heat Pump Conference 2017, Rotterdam European Commission: “The most cost-e¤ective and beneficial heating or cooling solution can be defined as: (among others) - Heat Pumps,…” in: Annexes to the Commission Recommendation on the content of the comprehensive assessment of the potential for e€cient heating and cooling under Article 14 of Directive 2012/27/EU, C(2019) 6625 final, ANNEX-ES 1 to 7, Brussels, 25.9.2019. 2 3 Low-GWP HFO refrigerants such as R-454B and R-454C can aid in increasing system e€ciency, expanding operating temperature range and reducing CO 2 emissions, while providing notable safety improvements over A3-class refrigerants. These characteristics position low-GWP refrigerants as the ideal solutions not