On the 2nd of October 2018, the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA), the Heat Pump city of the year award and the Heat4Cool project sponsored #DecarBuilding, a successful webinar on the decarbonisation of the residential sector.
The webinar aimed to promote the knowledge of best practices and technologies already available in the market and their replicability across Europe, stepping towards the decarbonisation path.

During the webinar, several examples of the application of heat pumps in combination with other technologies were presented, applied in three different scenarios: social houses, apartments and public buildings. All these projects won the Heat Pump City of the Year award in different categories in the 2018 or 2017.

Sponsor and speaker of the event was Heat4Cool, a Horizon2020 project which is developing an advanced decision-making tool and is promoting an energy efficient solution for retrofitting buildings.

Around 60 participants from all over Europe attended the webinar and initiated dynamic discussions with the speakers. During the debate, the audience raised important points regarding the barriers related to the replicability of these systems and the use of natural refrigerants.

Referring to the obstacles in the European landscape, the speakers highlighted the importance of a proper and complete knowledge of the installation, which is sometimes missing, and the lack of investments/financing opportunities. The costumers seemed hesitating to adopt green technologies that are recognized as the most cost-effective long-term solution, but whose installation cost is still seen as a disadvantage. Furthermore, all speakers highlighted the importance of supportive policies and funding, which could boost the number of decarbonised buildings in the EU.
Refrigerants were a hot topic during the discussion, especially the use of natural refrigerants. All the companies involved stressed how nowadays the market is embracing the natural refrigeration and they underlined how moving towards natural refrigerants is the right direction for the industry.

If you missed the webinar you can watch it online and have a look at the speakers’ presentations by clicking here.

 

Following up on the success of this event, other webinars will be organized, focusing on other important sectors. The next one will be on the presentation of best practices from the industrial field.