An overview of the industry and the market for heat pumps in Korea
The heat pump is one of the most effective among technologies for carbon dioxide reduction. Nevertheless, the popularity of heat pumps is not so common because of geographical, economic and technical problems. In Korea during the winter season the ambient temperature is very low (about -5 °C), and electricity is expensive. Direct heating from a boiler costs less than that of a heat pump system. Continuous efforts have been made by researchers for the last decade to overcome these obstacles. Nowadays, heat pumps systems for specifi ed locations such as cold areas, multi-zone and module-based systems with high performance are available in the market. Also, the development of IT (Information Technology) has enabled optimized control techniques to be developed, and the application of heat pump systems has become easier. Government policy favours GSHPs. At present, the heat pump market and industries are quite promising in Korea.