The digital platform allows for determining the annual cost of the electricity consumed by the heat pump, comparing it with that of other heat sources.
How much can you save with heat pumps?
How much can you save by replacing a traditional fossil fuel boiler with heat pumps? How to choose the optimal device and determine the payback period of the initial expenditure? And what is the carbon footprint associated with its use? To answer these questions, a new digital tool comes to the rescue. Let’s talk about the My Heat Pump application developed by SoftHVAC for EHPA, the European Heat Pump Association. A platform capable of helping users, whether individual citizens, businesses, or public entities, to understand the cost of this technology once it is operational.
These are essential pieces of information for the purchasing decision, as heat pumps, although they can be up to 5 times more efficient than a gas boiler, have a higher purchase and installation price. Therefore, to determine the payback period – explains the EHPA – it is necessary to know the operating costs.
How does the application work?
The tool has been designed to calculate the cost of the electricity consumed by a heat pump over a year. And to compare it with the use of an electric boiler, a gas boiler, a solid fuel boiler, or a liquid fuel boiler. Users will need to specify the purpose of the calculation – that is, heating, ventilation, and hot water supply – and enter the prices of energy carriers, with the option to select a single or dual rate for electricity. Differentiating between air source heat pumps and geothermal heat pumps. There are monovalent systems (those that provide all the necessary heat for the environment to be heated) and bivalent systems (integrated with another heat source).
“To perform calculations as accurately as possible, the application uses the daily external temperature database from the last 10-15 years for a specific city,” explains the Association. “The user can select the city from the 187 currently available, including through the map.” Recent data on the average temperature of that city will be used. “If the desired city is not on the list, you can select the nearest one within a radius of 200 km to get similar weather data.”
The tool also allows for calculating CO2 emissions resulting from the electricity consumed, depending on the geographical area in which one is located. Also read The heat pumps and decarbonization.
