The future is renewable, the future is Daikin

We face a number of challenges in creating a sustainable environment and building a carbon-neutral housing stock. One of these challenges is getting the most out of renewable energy when heating our homes. Heat pump technology plays a major role in decarbonising Europe's housing.

 

Many houses still use outdated heating systems that run on coal and oil. At Daikin, we're committed to replacing these systems with state-of-the-art heat pump technology.

Countries such as Sweden have legislated to make heat pumps the default system for new build homes. A 2020 study shows that new builds account for more than half of the heat pump market in Germany. In Europe as a whole, however, only 10% of the heating systems installed each year use heat pump technology. This is lower than the European Commission's target for renewable energy: its aim is for heat pumps to account for 40% of heating and cooling devices.

The Commission has introduced a set of policies called the European Green Deal, which aims to make Europe climate neutral in 2050 through low-impact technology. At Daikin, we see four steps that would help Europe to meet the Commission's targets.

Step 1: Strengthen new build rules on energy use​

Europe needs to phase out the most polluting heating systems. All EU member states have been obliged to put strategies in place that ensure newly built houses and apartments have better carbon performance statistics. As a result, we estimate that heat pumps now have a 50% market share in new homes.

Step 2: Increase the replacement rate​

To achieve the EU's decarbonisation targets, we need to replace at least 2% of all residential fossil-based heating systems with electrified solutions every year. We are currently only replacing half of that. Heat pumps should be made the most logical choice for replacement.

Step 3: End fossil fuel incentives

Governments must make heat pumps affordable to the average homeowner. Making fossil fuels less appealing and cutting green energy prices will increase the use of heat pumps and help us move towards a more sustainable future.

Step 4: Make renewable heating the standard

At Daikin, we believe heat pumps must become the standard when replacing heating systems. Heat pumps are a proven technology and their capacity to produce hot water has rapidly evolved. Every new build or renovated home in Europe could have a heat pump installed.

The future

At Daikin, we're committed to playing our part in helping to solve urgent societal issues linked to global warming. To get there, we are investing in innovation and local production capacity in Europe to deliver reliable, smart and energy-efficient heat pumps that can help us make the shift to a carbon-neutral society.

To learn more, watch this video.