“Heat pumps — status and trends” in Asia and the Pacific

In Asian and Pacific regions, economic growth in the last decade has propelled the use of air-conditioners for space cooling along with the use of reversible heat pumps for year round space conditioning. This has led to the rapid increase of electricity demand for air conditioning in summer. To cope with the increasing power demand and the requirement for efficient energy use for space conditioning, governments and energy supply utilities have encouraged effective use and leveling of power load using a heat pump with thermal storage systems and gas cooling systems, by enacting financial and promotional supports. Status and trends of heat pumps in Asian and Pacific regions, related to the use of heat pumps for space heating and cooling were surveyed from the view points of climate, energy consumption, technologies, markets and promotion measures.