EU renewables rules threaten to leave heat pumps out in the cold

While heat pumps are used to provide heat during the winter and cool air during the summer, the narrow nature of the EU rules means they will struggle to meet the efficiency target

Some of the most efficient forms of heat pump and waste heat capture technologies could be excluded from contributing to EU renewable energy targets, under rules that experts are warning will undermine demand for one of the most cost effective forms of low carbon technology.

Under rules proposed late last year as part of its wide-ranging climate change action plan, the EU said that technologies that exploit "ambient heat contained in water, air or the ground", such as ground or air source heat pumps, would be classified as renewable and could count towards targets to generate 20 per cent of the EU's energy mix from renewables by 2020.

However, for heat pumps to qualify they must deliver a relatively high degree of efficiency whereby they amount of heat energy generated is 2.9 times the amount of energy it takes to run the pump.

Martin Fahey, green gateway initiative manager at engineering giant Mitsubishi Electric, which offers a range of different heat pumps, said that the efficiency rules were welcome as they meant that "some of the more inefficient kit at the bottom end of the market" will not qualify as renewable.

However, he warned that where heat pumps are used to provide heat during the winter and cool air during the summer, the narrow nature of the EU rules means they will struggle to meet the efficiency target and could be excluded from counting towards renewables goals, despite the significant carbon savings such systems can deliver.

"With systems that cool as well as heat you have to count all the energy the unit is using throughout the year, but can only count the heat it generates in the winter as output," he said. "That means they appear less efficient and some highly efficient air source heat pumps could be excluded from counting towards renewables targets as a result."

He added that some systems that use waste heat, such as that generated by swimming pools or data centres, to heat neighbouring buildings were also excluded from the EU's renewables definition, again despite their ability to deliver deep cuts in energy use and carbon emissions.

Fahey argued that the exclusion of such technologies represented an "anomaly " within legislation that should otherwise deliver a major boost to the European market for heat pumps.

He added that Mitsubishi Electric would continue to lobby the EU to reassess the definition before it is formally adopted from 2012.