• THE PROJECT

The KnowHowHP (Know-how Heat Pump) project teaches energy consultants, planners, and installers an integrated planning and implementation process in which heat pumps and renovation concepts are optimally coordinated. The project began in November 2024 and will run for three years (through October 2027).

  • Training and Continuing Education as a Core Focus​​

The goal of the training and continuing education program is to facilitate the transition to heat pumps in existing apartment buildings and to increase the number of energy-efficiency retrofits.

© Markus Gmeiner
© Markus Gmeiner
  • Background

While the use of heat pumps is already widespread in new construction—particularly in single-family homes—and represents the state of the art, this is not yet the case for retrofits, especially in multi-story apartment buildings. In practice, heat pumps are currently often not recommended to customers for multi-story existing buildings. The reason for this is a lack of expertise on how to integrate them effectively into a holistic renovation concept. The interplay between the building envelope, heat loss, renewable energy, and heat pumps requires an integrated approach. This approach is often prematurely abandoned in favor of concepts that are easy to explain and have been tried and tested (e.g., wood chip heating systems, infrared heating systems).

  • Integrated Renovation Process​

Measurement results from several research and pilot projects have demonstrated that socially responsible, climate-friendly retrofits of multi-story apartment buildings using heat pumps are possible. A common thread emerging from these successful flagship projects is that, above all, an integrated renovation process utilizing digital planning tools was key to their success. Such high-quality, knowledge-based, and software-supported planning offers the following advantages:

  • better quality (better and more affordable solutions)
  • simpler, faster, more robust (preliminary) planning
  • Better planning documents, faster and easier implementation > Higher implementation rate
  • greater planning reliability > lower risk, error prevention, less rework, higher implementation rate
  • Better replicability/scalability > Higher conversion rate
  • Training Content Tailored to Specific Target Groups ​

Training and continuing education for consultants, planners, and contractors are intended to ensure that customers always achieve the best possible outcome, regardless of whether they first contact an installation company about installing a heat pump or an energy consultant or architect about a thermal retrofit. Since the target groups of energy consultants, planners, and installers address different subject areas and levels of detail in retrofit projects, they also require training materials tailored to their specific needs. For this reason, the project follows an approach based on three pillars. The planning process and training materials are tailored to specific target groups. For example, building services engineers are trained in the use and application of the developed toolbox, while energy consultants are trained primarily for the pre-design phase.

  • In short:

The project aims to ensure that heat pumps are planned and implemented in the best possible way in existing multi-story buildings through a targeted combination of renovation measures and heating system conversions. The training materials developed as part of the project contribute, through a knowledge-based and software-supported integrated planning and implementation process, to making climate-friendly and socially responsible renovations of multi-story apartment buildings in combination with heat pumps a reality.

Midyear Meeting in Kempten

As part of the EU LIFE project KnowHowHP, the project partners gathered in Kempten for a consortium meeting and workshop. The focus was on how experts can be better supported in the future to successfully install heat pumps in existing apartment buildings.

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