Interview with Andreas Buehring, responsible for Research and Development of Heat Pumps and Ventilation Systems at Viessmann
Andreas Buehring is considered a though leader for the DecarbHeat forum that will take place in Brussels on 11-12 May 2017. He is responsible for Research and Development of Heat Pumps and Ventilation Systems at Viessmann Group. This is what he thinks about the decarbonization process in Europe.
What is your vision for decarbonising heating and cooling in Europe by 2050?
In 2050 the majority of the heating and cooling energy will be delivered by electrical driven systems,based on a mostly renewable electricity production by PV, wind, biogas and potentially new technologies. Heat pumps and additional resistance heaters will be dominant in residential buildings and in industrial processes. They can be installed decentralized or as a heater in district heating systems together with CHP based on biogas.
What is your contribution to this vision as stakeholder in your professional environment, but also as individual?
In preparation to this energy system transition, newly designed Hybrid Heat Pumps as a combination of an air-to-water heat pump and an integrated fossil driven back up heater may play a very important role. With an optimization of the bivalent temperature, regarding actual COP and energy prices or CO2-emissions, they drive in the best matter under transitional price conditions. They will open the door from actual mostly fossil heaters to an electric-based heat generation system. Digitalization of all relevant services and the communication and interaction of the products with their environment and the users is the basis to find easily the best solutions for our customers (installers and users) for plug-and-play installations with reduced complexity. The units will automatically heat and cool with best efficiency, comfort and user friendly interfaces. To develop these products with best efficiency and optimized for the sectoral coupling between heating, cooling and renewable electricity production is my personal profession and vision.
Who do you think is the strongest ally in making your vision of a decarbonised Europe a reality?
Our strongest partners on the way to realize this vision are the best installers and the interested end customers. We have to support our installers in the best way with our digital services to save their time to let them bring out as much efficient units as possible to realize the energy system transition.We need more engagement from the political responsible persons to change the distribution of the costs of this system change from electricity to all end energies and a higher price for CO2 emissions.
