Heat pump project database and low-temperature ready standard

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Heat pumps are a key technology for climate-neutral buildings. In society, however, there is still too little or incorrect information about the technical possibilities and limits of heat pumps. Therefore, the project „Heat pump project database and low-temperature ready standard“ aims to reduce reservations and obstacles and to offer support for the installation in existing buildings.

Database for heat pump projects

A database of successful heat pump projects is going to be set up and operated on the website of the German Environment Agency. The presentation of the projects serves to educate and encourages imitation: The basic technical data of the buildings and facts about the heat pump solution are presented. But also non-technical information about the approach to project implementation, hurdles and lessons learned are shown. The main target group includes owners of different building types, but also planners, energy consultants and tradesmen.

Operationalization of the low-temperature-ready standard

According with the relevant long-term scenario, heat pumps will become a standard heating system in buildings. Thus, a very large number of heat pumps has to be installed in existing buildings. For this purpose, the technical conditions of the buildings must be taken into account. The flow temperature has proven to be an important measure of the suitability of a building for heat pump installation. It depends on the heating load of the rooms and the dimensioning of the radiators. A heat pump installation is normally unproblematic below a flow temperature of around 55°C, in which case a building fulfills the "low-temperature-ready" standard.

The required flow temperature of a building is determined in the planning stage of the heating system by means of an elaborate room-wise heating load calculation. However, this ties up resources on the part of planners, energy consultants and tradesmen. A simple access for laypersons to the flow temperature is missing. This gap is addressed by a advising tool that uses simplified calculations to determine which rooms of a building are critical for the operation of a heat pump and which constructive measures can counteract this.