Heating and domestic hot water production represent more than 80% of the energy consumption of the residential sector in France. The rehabilitation is of great potential. The replacement of old boilers by air-to-water heat pumps constitutes one of the most effective solutions, which leads to a major reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The constraints limiting the operation of usual heat pumps have been identified. A new concept of air-to-water versatile heat pump (single-stage / 2-stage) has been developed. The principal functions of this new concept are: heating and cooling, operation without additional electric heat supply, production of domestic hot water in summer and in winter, and capacity control by the compression architecture. The principal results obtained are: Compared to a usual heat pump, the new concept allows an energy saving up to 34.5 % and a reduction of the CO2 emissions up to 24 % depending on the climatic conditions and the hydronic heating distributor system; With the rise of gas and fuel prices, the new concept can compete on total cost conventional solutions for heating with efficient boilers. The CO2 emissions can be reduced by at least a factor 4 compared to fioul or gas-fired boilers. The seasonal COP can be further increased by a better optimisation of both the frosting/defrosting cycles and the combined production of heat and domestic hot water, as well as the replacement of the compressors by more efficient ones.
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