HEAT PUMPS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
The old aim of governments was to supply their country with sufficient low-cost energy to keep the growth of the economy. In the meantime we have the problem of the climate change, and more or less all industrialised countries, which have signed this agreement, have to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, mainly CO2 from burning fossil fuels. Heat pumps offer the possibility of reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions significantly, mainly in the building sector, but also in industry. The second law of thermodynamics shows the advantages: While a condensing gas-fired boiler can reach a primary energy ratio (PER) of at best 105 % (i.e. the boiler efficiency ?B; the theoretical maximum would be 110 %, based on the lower calorific value), heat pumps achieve 200 % and more. The potential for reducing CO2 emissions assuming a 30 % share in the building sector using technology presently available is about 6 % of the total world-wide CO2 emission. With future technologies in power generation and heat pumps up to 16 % seem possible. Therefore, heat pumps are one of the key technologies for energy conservation and reducing CO2 emissions.