Thermal insulation offensive called for

21.03.2023

Source: Energy & Management Powernews

To the "heat pump boom" must now be added a "heat protection offensive" in the stock, demand industry representatives.

If from 2024 annually 500.000 new heat pumps are to be installed - as it plans the Federal Government - then it needs first an offensive for the promotion of the thermal insulation in the existence, demands the federation for insulation systems, plaster and mortar (VDPM) with reference to the results of a study of the institute for energy and environmental research (Ifeu, Heidelberg) and the research institute for thermal insulation (FIW, Munich), which was provided on behalf of the federation.

Heat pumps, the study states, can only achieve their high efficiency in well-insulated buildings. The worse the thermal insulation of a building is, the more inefficiently a heat pump runs, as long as the heat transfer surfaces are not changed. At the moment, however, only about half of existing buildings are insulated in such a way that heat pumps can be efficiently replaced, he said. "Carelessly installing heat pumps in unsuitable buildings not only entails high running costs, but also overloads power generation, the power grids and thus the environment," says Professor Andreas Holm, head of the FIW Institute.

"As an association, we have never seen thermal insulation as an end in itself," comments VDPM Chief Executive Hans-Joachim Riechers: "Thermal insulation is always the means to an end. With the help of thermal insulation, buildings become 'low-temperature ready' and the use of heat pumps becomes sensible."

The combination of thermal insulation and heat pumps, however, not only helps to use electrical energy more effectively, but can also decisively relieve the burden on the power grid. For example, five times more heat pumps could be operated with the same grid and electricity capacity if the buildings were insulated and grid-integrated, the study says.

A "heat insulation offensive" would, according to the authors
- give property owners an important signal by highlighting and communicating the high importance of insulation measures and
- consider the "triad of renewable energy supply, plant technology and thermal insulation" and transfer it into concrete measures.
- As thermal insulation and systems engineering are two sides of the same coin, they should also be funded equally through the "Federal Promotion Efficient Buildings (BEG)".

The full Study "Thermal insulation and heat pumps - why the two belong together" is available on the websites of the VDPM, Ifeu and FIW.

Author: Katia Meyer-Tien