SWITCH-Asia

The Challenge

In China, the broad uptake of Heat Pump Water Heater (HPWH) faces many challenges. Firstly, the upfront cost of an HPWH is higher than that of an electric water heater, and similar or a little higher than a solar water heater. Secondly, consumer awareness in China is still very low. Consumers also have no means to compare between different types of water heaters. Thirdly, the level of HPWH technology used in China is signifi cantly lower than in Europe, leading to lower reliability, lower efficiency, less-than-ideal refrigerants used, and limited range.

The Objectives

The project promotes residential HPWH in China to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It plans to increase the market share of household heat pump water heaters to 6.5 % in Southern China.

The Way Forward

• Strengthening the China Heat Pump Alliance to facilitate EU-Asia exchanges of experience, and enhancing potential for credibility, visibility, and acceptance of the outputs of the action;
• Strengthening of the capacity of intermediaries;
• Strengthening consumer awareness;
• Upgrading HPWH manufacturing through enhanced ability and readiness to apply eco-design;
• Establishing a new single standard and a labelling scheme supporting HPWH greater deployment;
• Creating a supportive policy framework allowing HPWH to benefit from subsidies available to renewable energy technologies.

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