Day 1 highlights
The first day of the meeting opened with a session led by Stephan Renz, IEA HPT TCP Chair, focusing on general business. The agenda included the verification of participants, adoption of the agenda, and approval of minutes from the previous meeting held in Prague. This set the stage for a series of detailed presentations and discussions.
Information from other organizations
The session featured presentations from invited guests, including T. Sawachi and colleagues on the EBC Annex 88 project, which evaluates and demonstrates the actual energy efficiency of heat pump systems in buildings. Additionally, Emina Pasic and Monica Axell shared insights on Mission Innovation, highlighting global efforts and innovations driving energy efficiency and heat pump technologies.
Ongoing Annexes: Status and final presentations
The meeting then moved to updates on ongoing annexes – the international collaboration projects.
Read more about the projects:
- Annex 59 Heat Pumps for Drying
- Annex 60 Retrofit Heat Pumps in Larger Non-Domestic Buildings,
- Annex 61 Heat Pumps in Positive Energy Districts
- Annex 62 Heat pumps for multi-family residential buildings in cities
- Annex 63 Placement Impact on Heat Pump Acoustics
- Annex 64 Safety measures on flammable refrigerants
- Annex 65 Heat Pumps in a Circular Economy
Projects that are in their final stage were prestented, showcasing their advancements and achievements. The final reports from these international collaboration projects will soon be available on the annex websites. However, several task reports and recordings from final webinars can already be found on the websites.
Read more about these projects:
- Annex 54 on Low GWP Refrigerants
- Annex 57 on Flexibility in Multi-Vector Energy Systems
- Annex 58 on High Temperature Heat Pumps
Annex proposals and new ideas
The meeting also explored new proposals and ideas for future annexes. Kashif Nawaz provided a status update on the “Comfort and Climate Box Solutions for cooling and dehumidification”. Veronika Wilk proposed an Annex focusing on the integration of digital services with heat pump technologies, and Riley Bradley Barta presented a proposal for Optimal Heat Pump Design and Operation for Broader Acceptance. These two proposals were approved by the delegates to be started as soon as at least two member countries have officially confirmed participation. Innovative ideas for future annexes included Process Integration of High-Temperature Heat Pumps, new business models for heat pumps, enhanced miniaturized components, and heat pumps for hydrogen and carbon capture.
Interaction with IEA bodies
Reports from other IEA-related meetings and activities were presented, emphasizing the importance of collaboration within the IEA community to drive forward the agenda of energy efficiency and sustainable technologies. Updates were made about the recently started IEA TCP Coordination Groups. Of special interest for HPT TCP are the ones for Heat Pumps, Energy System Flexibility and Thermal Networks.
Day 2 highlights
Workshop session
The second day began with a workshop, where participants shared experiences and discussed challenges and solutions related to new or alternative business models for heat pumps in heating or cooling modes. Marek Miara shared his views on business models for heat pumps in the future (electrified) energy system, and Emina Pasic made an intervention on how EU regulation on sustainable finance, CSRD (corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) and the Taxonomy relates to alternative business models.
Conclusion
The Executive Committee meeting in Yokohama underscored the dynamic and forward-thinking approach of the HPT TCP by IEA. With an ambitious goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, Japan is at the forefront of integrating heat pump technologies into its energy strategy, specially for domestic hot water heating and for industrial processes. Collaborative efforts, continuous advancements in technology, and strategic policy planning will be key to realizing these energy goals and paving the way for sustainable solutions worldwide. The Yokohama meeting was a pivotal step towards a more sustainable future.