Ariston Group, among the global leaders in sustainable thermal comfort, attended "The Roots of the Future: fourteen years of Regional Development" - the annual event of the Lombardy Region that illustrates the areas of intervention, the implementation status and the projects financed through the European Structural and Investment Funds (EIS), especially ERDF and ESF - to present a solution at the forefront of technological development: the innovative Thermally Driven Heat Pump.
Sustainability and energy transition are among the main challenges the thermal comfort industry is facing: more than 50% of the primary energy consumed globally is used for heat and cold production, while in Europe buildings are responsible for 40% of the energy consumed and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Heat pumps are among the leading renewable and high-efficiency solutions for water and space heating and in particular solutions using hydronic-type systems best combine sustainability and comfort, also thanks to the absence of noise, which differentiates them from systems with air heat emission. However, their integration with radiant surfaces commonly installed in the existing building stock (e.g., radiators) represents a major technological challenge.
In order to expand their possible application uses and promote their adoption in international markets in different types of buildings, new and existing, Ariston Group is working to continuously enrich the range of heat pumps.
In this regard, thanks to the work of Ariston Thermo Innovative Technologies, a research and development centre of excellence that collaborates with the Politecnico di Milano university, it has developed an innovative absorption heat pump that uses heat to trigger thermal compression.
The Thermally Driven Heat Pump, exploiting a special thermodynamic cycle, is able to simultaneously guarantee high flow temperatures for radiators, constant heating power and energy efficiency on primary energy always above 100%; it also has small dimensions and is designed to be easily integrated into the building-plant system.
Particularly suitable for residential retrofit, thanks to its compatibility with most existing emission systems (radiators), it is the efficient alternative to traditional installed equipment, which can thus be replaced without invasive interventions on buildings and energy infrastructure.
It allows to reduce operating costs and consumption by more than 30% compared to high-efficiency condensing boilers, making the most of the opportunity to cut emissions in pre-1990 buildings, which - in terms of numbers, size, inherent characteristics and technologies used - constitute the most energy-intensive part of the building stock.
Ariston Group's marketing strategy in major European markets is currently being defined. However, the technology developed already foreshadows interesting prospects for the sector as of now. While heat pumps are a key technology for the decarbonization of buildings, by 2050 new buildings will only account for between 10% and 25% of the total. Therefore, it will be crucial to have heat pump technologies that take into account the requirements imposed by all building types, as well as different climatic conditions, energy infrastructure, locally available energy sources, individual preferences, and economic resources.
