European Heating Industry (EHI) Press release
Brussels, 6 December 2017
HYBRID HEATING?
There is a smart, new way to heat your home with renewables.
Also in cold, windless winter nights.
There’s a new technology for heating, HYBRIDS.
Today the European Heating Industry presented them at a European Parliament event hosted by ALDE MEP Carolina Punset.
With hybrids, industry designed a way to increase the penetration of renewable heating in Europe’s old buildings, one of the biggest challenges for the decarbonisation of buildings.
How do they work? A Hybrid heat pump is a combination of a heat pump and at least a second heater (typically a boiler), managed by a smart energy control. Using two energies and two heaters combines the best of two worlds: the efficiency of the heat pump (smaller than if it was the main heater) with the backing of the boiler, used for example for peaks of cold, windless winter nights when heat demand is high.
“Hybrids are flexible because they can be used in any building type and in any climate zone, as the heat pump can meet the heating as well as the cooling demand of a building” said Riccardo Rompani, HVAC Marketing Director of Riello Group. He continued: “Hybrids are also smart, because their intelligent control will either switch between heaters depending, for example, on the price of energy or weather conditions; or make them work together. This way they will deliver energy bills cuts to consumers.”
“What’s more, hybrids will help reduce CO2 emissions. How? By increasing the use of renewable electricity or biogas” said Eric Bataille, Public Affairs Director at Groupe Atlantic. “For example, the smart control will give a signal to the heat pump part of the hybrid to run when wind electricity is abundant and cheap. In case the second heater is a condensing boiler, it will be able to use much less gas, or biogas, as it will be a backup to the heat pump.”
Hybrid heat pumps also help manage the electricity grid through “demand-response”: switching from the heat pump to the boiler, when high electricity demand is challenging a smooth operation of the grid. In doing so, they enable a higher share of renewable electricity, while limiting the cost of upgrading the grid to accommodate a high share of variable renewable sources.
For more information please contact Paolo Basso, EHI Regulatory Affairs Manager at paolo.bassoehi.eu or tel. +32.2.8803070
About the European Heating Industry (EHI)
The European heating industry brings together companies that are leaders in the production of efficient heating systems. Our engineers develop the heating solution for every need, from boilers to solar thermal systems, from heat pumps to fuel cells, from radiators to underfloor heating.
But the energy landscape is changing. For tomorrow, our members are innovating in hybrid and digital solutions. They are developing high-efficiency and renewable systems. To know more about these technologies follow us on @ehiassociation.
Coming up: a new website to be launched in January 2018 on www.ehi.eu