Heat pumps defy natural heat flow, moving thermal energy from a cooler to a warmer area. This process requires a small input of external energy, typically electricity. They use a heat transfer fluid, often a mixture with water, to absorb heat from sources like the air, ground, or even waste heat. This absorbed heat is then transferred to a building or industrial application for heating. Conversely, heat pumps can also provide cooling by moving heat away from an application to a warmer external environment. By consuming less primary energy than traditional heating systems, heat pumps significantly reduce harmful gas emissions, offering an environmentally friendly alternative for temperature control.

Examples of application areas:

• Industrial Heat Pumps: These versatile systems are used for space heating, process water heating and cooling, steam production, and various drying, evaporation, and distillation processes.
• Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHPs): Closed-loop systems circulate fluid underground to exchange heat; they warm buildings in winter by extracting earth’s heat and cool them in summer by dissipating building heat.
• Air-Water Heat Pump Installations: These systems are another common type of heat pump used for heating applications.
• ‘Clean’ Heating: Governments support residential heat pump adoption as a step towards greater energy efficiency and reducing pollution from conventional heating methods.