During the IEA HP conference in Beijing, China it became apparent for
many visitors that the HP market in China has an overwhe
During the IEA HP 2002
conference in Beijing, China, it became apparent to many visitors that the
HP market in China has an overwhelming size and has matured to a
degree not known in Europe, since millions of heat pumps are manufactured and implemented in complicated
system conditions each year. In itself China offers low labour costs and therefore low
prices, but here just the economics of scale and flawless system design,
because of the huge practice given, contribute to the HP success.
China might well be compared with the European
situation. Her climate varies from cold, wet to hot, dry and in between. Also
there is a wide variety in geological and geographical situations. Integrated
heating and cooling systems do benefit from – even simultaneous – heating and
cooling demand.
The market leader in China, Fuerda, developed a great many concepts for
HP sources: river, sea, ocean, earth, waist (heat) recovery. Earlier on
recognizing the problems due to the specific technical character of a HP
system, Fuerda commands – even more important than just manufacturing heat
pumps – a special and unparalleled experience in the engineering of complete
systems in a great variety of settings: district heating, Olympic accommodations,
hospitals, etc.. For instance, the cold climate zone
and sometimes aging radiator systems within district heating systems require
134A HP’ssuitable for supplying temperatures > 65oC,
whenever the antiquated coal boilers have been removed. It is the company’s
policy to include at least basic system engineering whenever her HP’s are supplied. The units range in capacity from 1.8 to 4500 kW .
As opposed to China, USA and Japan, in Europe there is by far not so much knowledge
available. One is inclined to over-engineering, causing troublesome functioning
of the systems. Apart from this, lack of knowledge leads engineering firms and
contractors to charge huge expenses to compensate unforeseen efforts and possible
claims. This phenomenon, together with the economics of small
scale do prevent swift and smooth HP penetration in Europe.
Now that an European distributor has been established, there might be
a turn for the HP system benefit, as soon as national representatives have been
nominated.
