Summary in your language

About

About

HARP in numbers

18

partners

3

years

1,5

million

consumers reached

10,000

consumers

motivated towards an efficient change

HARP stands for Heating Appliances Retrofit Planning. It is a project funded by the European Union through the Horizon 2020 framework, focusing on 5 EU Member States: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Germany.

The main idea behind the project is to motivate individuals to plan the replacement of their often old and inefficient heating appliances, with more efficient alternatives. Among the 126 million boilers installed in the EU, a staggering 60% are inefficient (performing as a C or lower energy class) but individuals are rarely aware of the inefficiency of their heating systems and associated costs.

Through an application the HARP project will enable individuals to get an indication of the labelling classification of their heating system. The application will also provide an estimation of the costs associated with their heating system, related to, for instance, energy consumption or maintenance. The application will also give an overview of the most efficient alternatives available on the market, along with a list of their benefits, such as energy and costs savings, reduction of CO2 emissions, improvement of indoor air quality or noise reduction. Finally, HARPa will list the incentives and financial support available at national level to replace inefficient heating appliances with a more efficient alternative. The application will be available in two different versions, a basic one for consumers, and an advanced one dedicated to professionals who, in turn, will be coached to provide a more detailed guidance to consumers regarding the replacement solutions tailored to their needs.

Have a look at our leaflet, discover HARP in a nutshell or use it to inform others about the project!

Why is it important?

Heating and hot water represents 80% of the energy demand of EU households.

and 84% of it is generated from fossil fuels. A sharp decrease in the energy consumption and use of fossil fuels is needed for the EU to fulfil its climate and decarbonisation goals.

60% of the heating stock consists of inefficient boilers (class C or lower).

The Ecodesign and Energy Labelling regulations for boilers, in place since 2015,  remove the worst performing products from the market, while driving consumers towards the most efficient choices. But installed boilers can last for over 15 years, and their replacement rate is very low (4% per year). As a result, a large number of inefficient boilers is still in use today.

Except in Germany, consumers are not informed about the efficiency of their installed heating systems.

This information is crucial to trigger a replacement of the least-efficient heating appliances. HARP will build on the experience of the mandatory labelling of installed boilers in Germany. Recommendations will be issued for the implementation of the labelling methodologies for installed heating systems at the EU-level, and specifically in countries not participating in HARP.

National contact points

France

Germany

Italy

Portugal

Spain