Outlining the requirements for propane-based heat pump solutions for existing multi family houses

Approximately 40% of the living area in Germany can be attributed to multi family houses, a large share of which are existing buildings heated with fossil fuels. To decarbonize these with heat pumps, the housing industry needs standardized solutions for refurbishment. Therefore, together with partners from the heating industry as well as the housing industry, Fraunhofer ISE intends to develop heat pump solutions based on the recognized low-GPW refrigerant propane (R290), for three fields of application: • apartment heating systems (currently typically consisting of wall-hung gas boilers) • central heating systems installed indoors • higher capacity air source heat pumps (direct evaporation) This study compiles the essential boundary conditions from the housing stock such as • availability of ambient heat sources • required capacity for heating and domestic hot water preparation • available space • permissible acoustic emissions Finally, possible generic heat pump solutions are derived from these boundaries.