Comfort, sustainability, efficiency, and quality, the European HVAC market is clearly moving in this direction. The building sector will play a crucial role in the coming years in meeting decarbonization goals, along with heating and cooling solutions.
Despite a drop in heat pump sales across the EU over the past year, the Italian market has proven resilient, maintaining its position as the second-largest in Europe in terms of units sold. AIRA knows this well. The Swedish market leader expanded its offering to Italy a few years ago and was a standout presence at the first edition of Smart Building Revolution, the event organized by media company Rinnovabili during the international Key – The Energy Transition Expo 2025.
With HVAC solutions playing an increasingly central role in building energy efficiency, we had the pleasure of speaking with Filippo Luna, service operations director at AIRA. He offered insight into the current market landscape and the company’s approach, one that has always prioritized technological innovation to ensure both energy savings and high-quality living standards.
What is AIRA’s approach to optimizing energy use without sacrificing comfort?
Comfort is clearly our North Star, our essential point of reference and absolute priority to guarantee the best experience for our customers. At AIRA, we don’t just offer a 15-year warranty on both the product and the service, we extend that guarantee to comfort itself. We ensure that indoor temperatures stay at optimal levels while minimizing energy use thanks to our advanced technologies.
How do we do this? It’s not just about using next-generation heat pumps with high performance. We’ve developed an innovative technology called AIRA Intelligence. This system doesn’t just monitor system performance, it learns how the home behaves thermally and adapts to user habits.
By collecting and analyzing advanced data, we monitor key variables of the environment where the heat pump is installed, like local weather conditions and hourly fluctuations in energy prices. All this data is processed through sophisticated AI algorithms that optimize system performance to ensure maximum comfort at the lowest operational cost, making energy management more efficient and sustainable.
What sets AIRA apart from other heat pump manufacturers?
Replacing a traditional boiler with a heat pump is a complex process that requires technical expertise, planning, and precise management. At AIRA, we handle every phase of this transition, offering a true end-to-end service that simplifies the shift to high-efficiency solutions.
We’re a company that addresses the market with a unique direct-to-consumer approach: we design our own technology, manufacture it, install it directly, and manage the overall cost for the end customer.
This integrated model allows us to guarantee not just product quality and reliability, but also a fully customized service, with no middlemen. We’re the only ones offering this kind of value.
What are the advantages of this approach?
Being the only player operating this way allows us to truly accelerate the energy transition, making heat pump adoption more accessible and more efficient. This is our key differentiator in the market.
Can you share successful projects and customer feedback?
The results speak for themselves. As this past winter season came to a close, we can confidently say that all of the heat pumps we’ve installed are operating optimally. As mentioned earlier, all of our units are connected and continuously monitored.
Each unit is tracked in real time, allowing us to analyze performance and confirm that the promised energy savings are being delivered.
This is possible thanks to our system’s defining feature: connectivity.
With the quality of our hardware and advanced AI integration, we’re able to ensure a significant reduction in energy use. Our data shows that, on average, our systems deliver at least 40% savings compared to traditional gas boilers, with even higher percentages under favorable conditions.
AI and digitalization are revolutionizing how we manage comfort and efficiency in HVAC. AIRA is leading this transformation with solutions that not only improve building performance but make energy savings a measurable reality.
What technologies is AIRA developing to make systems smarter and more efficient?
At AIRA, we design and build cutting-edge hardware, but the real added value lies in how we integrate advanced software technologies to optimize system performance. Our approach combines next-gen hardware with in-house developed software and AI algorithms to ensure long-term optimal performance.
Using methods like digital twins and predictive system control (PSC) models, we’re building HVAC systems that not only maintain their performance but continue to improve over time.
Thanks to AI, our systems learn and adapt constantly, month after month, year after year, for the next 20 years, continuously optimizing both energy use and comfort.
Our technology is designed to dynamically respond to changes in buildings and user habits. This means the system is not static, it adapts to real-world needs, always delivering top-tier energy efficiency and comfort.
So with AIRA, users enjoy top comfort without even noticing what’s happening behind the scenes?
Absolutely. With AIRA, customers get cutting-edge technology for the entire lifecycle of their system. It’s important to understand that using a heat pump is very different from using a traditional boiler.
That’s why, when we talk about awareness, we’re not just referring to the technology itself but also to how it’s used.
Our heat pumps adjust dynamically to the user’s needs, delivering comfort without the need for complicated manual settings or complex interfaces.
Our goal is to simplify the user experience as much as possible. With our intuitive mobile app, the user only needs to set their preferred temperature, hot water amount, and time schedules. The system takes care of the rest, optimizing energy use and ensuring maximum savings, both on the energy bill and in emissions.
The European regulatory framework is becoming stricter on efficiency and emissions. How do AIRA’s HVAC solutions address this?
Regulations are constantly evolving, influenced by global geopolitical dynamics. But we believe the direction is clear: transitioning from fossil-fueled heating to renewable-based solutions is no longer optional, it’s necessary. The real question is not if, but when.
In Italy alone, residential heating accounts for around 12% of CO₂ emissions. That highlights the urgency of adopting cleaner technologies.
The regulatory landscape is complex and frequently updated, with incentives that change over time. For example, the latest “Legge di Bilancio” reduced the Ecobonus from 65% to 50%, but also took a decisive step by permanently eliminating state incentives for fossil-fuel boiler installations.
This is the direction we’re headed in. At AIRA, we go beyond offering cutting-edge energy solutions—we guide our customers through the regulatory maze, helping them access the best available incentives.
Our goal is to make the switch to sustainable HVAC systems not only technologically advanced but also simple and affordable for the end user.
Beyond cost savings, what strategic benefits do advanced HVAC solutions offer in terms of sustainability or energy independence?
Our technology doesn’t just cut energy bills, it also reduces maintenance costs compared to traditional boilers. Gas boilers require regular servicing for safety reasons. Heat pumps, on the other hand, are highly reliable systems based on physics principles that have been trusted for over a century, and are now enhanced through advanced innovation.
Heat pump technology also increases property value. Installing one improves a building’s energy performance, boosting its energy rating. The return on investment goes beyond energy savings and includes an increase in property value.
Looking ahead, what innovations can we expect in HVAC, and what role will AIRA play?
Our goal is to be a leader in an evolving HVAC ecosystem that integrates fully into the broader energy system.
Today, AIRA acts as a system integrator, placing the heat pump at the center of an architecture that connects home and residential energy systems. Every home doesn’t just consume energy—it can also produce and feed it back into the grid. The future of innovation lies in energy flow integration.
The natural evolution of HVAC is to create smart systems that go beyond just heating and cooling. They will become an active part of a broader energy ecosystem that manages both energy use and energy production.
As a central element of that ecosystem, the heat pump offers unique advantages thanks to its ability to store thermal energy, balancing internal demand with external energy needs.
In the future, integration with solar panels and AI will enable even smarter energy flow management, further boosting energy efficiency in buildings. The ultimate goal is to shift the perception of homes—from passive consumers to active contributors to energy production and optimization, cutting costs and supporting true sustainability.