15 May 2023

Presentation No 81 – Industrial heat pumps: electrifying process heat supply in the United States through technology demonstration and market transformation actions – 14th IEA Heat Pump Conference, Chicago, USA

---

Industry accounts for almost a quarter of the energy use world-wide and energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions. Industry has several pathways to step-change GHG reductions including electrification of process
heat, which is responsible for 50% of on-site energy use. Industrial heat pumps (IHPs) can beneficially
electrify much of the process heat needed for low to moderate temperature applications, helping to make
dramatic cuts in industrial GHG emissions. Our research shows that moderate IHP deployment in industrial
groups with high process heating demands (e.g., pulp and paper, chemicals, and food manufacturing) can
save up to 30% of the source energy or 221.6 petajoules/year (equivalent energy use/year of 1.5 million U.S.
homes). In parallel, IHPs can reduce CO2 emissions up to 18.2 million metric tons /year (equivalent
emissions from 4 million passenger cars or 1.3% of U.S. industrial CO2 emissions). Expanded adoption of
IHPs across all industrial sectors would save even more energy and CO2 emissions.