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Introduction: In Switzerland, heating accounts for 70% of a building’s energy consumption, mostly fueled by fossil sources. Recently, cantonal regulations have mandated the use of renewable energy in heating, making heat pumps more significant. This study examines how public and private actors can create or transform a business ecosystem to facilitate heat pump adoption in multifamily houses and which business models, resources, and activities are most effective to support this transformation. Methods: We conducted a literature review and 13 semi-structured interviews with experts in heat pumps and contracting business models. The interviews were analyzed using an ecosystem framework. Results: Our findings revealed three primary barriers to the adoption of heat pumps in MFHs: technical challenges, lack of expertise, and regulatory issues. In terms of contracting business models, high transaction costs and customer acceptance are significant obstacles. Additionally, we discovered that in Switzerland, contracting is predominantly offered by public-oriented organizations with ready access to capital. Discussion: The study emphasizes the necessity for collaboration among various actors to facilitate the implementation of contracting solutions with the goal of accelerating the adoption of heat pumps in multifamily housing. Key activities include generating the necessary expertise and standardizing large heat pumps in MFHs, central government efforts to harmonize and facilitate HP regulations across cantons, as well as active communication and sensitization of building owners and users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionIn Switzerland, heating accounts for 70% of a building’s energy consumption, mostly fueled by fossil sources. Recently, cantonal regulations have mandated the use of renewable energy in heating, making heat pumps more significant. This study examines how public and private actors can create or transform a business ecosystem to facilitate heat pump adoption in multi-family houses and which business models, resources, and activities are most effective to support this transformation.MethodsWe conducted a literature review and 13 semi-structured interviews with experts in heat pumps and contracting business models. The interviews were analyzed using an ecosystem framework.ResultsOur findings revealed three primary barriers to the adoption of heat pumps in MFHs: technical challenges, lack of expertise, and regulatory issues. In terms of contracting business models, high transaction costs and customer acceptance are significant obstacles. Additionally, we discovered that in Switzerland, contracting is predominantly offered by public-oriented organizations with ready access to capital.DiscussionThe study emphasizes the necessity for collaboration among various actors to facilitate the implementation of contracting solutions with the goal of accelerating the adoption of heat pumps in multifamily housing. Key activities include generating the necessary expertise and standardizing large heat pumps in MFHs, central government efforts to harmonize and facilitate HP regulations across cantons, as well as active communication and sensitization of building owners and users.

• Building electrification is a key decarbonization strategy. • Two districts of commercial buildings in San Francisco were modeled. • Impacts of electrification on building performance depend on baseline systems and efficiency. • Energy efficiency upgrades can significantly reduce energy use and peak electric demand. • Combining electrification and energy efficiency upgrades is recommended for decarbonization. Rapid electrification of buildings at the district scale is needed for cities to achieve climate change mitigation goals. However, most electrification studies focus on either the single building level or the city/region building stock level, and depend on the slow and uncertain process of requesting personally identifiable customer energy usage data from utilities. To answer a key question facing local policymakers: "Where can electrification proceed at scale without first upgrading the grid?" this study aims to quantify and inform building electrification impacts at the district scale using detailed building energy modeling and based on public records datasets. We explore how energy efficiency retrofits can help mitigate increased peak electric demand, and quantify impacts to energy use and carbon emissions. Building energy models of a baseline, and scenarios of simple electrification, energy retrofits, and electrification in combination with retrofits were created and simulated for 54 commercial buildings in two contiguous districts of San Francisco. A simple electrification scenario increased annual electricity consumption but reduced annual site energy usage by 15% to 17%, mainly due to replacing inefficient gas furnaces and boilers with more efficient heat pumps. Peak demand increased 7.4% for Fisherman's Wharf (e.g. within the capacity of the existing power grid), while the Design District showed a marginal decrease. Annual carbon emissions were reduced by 46% and 37%. Combining electrification with efficiency upgrades reduced peak demand by 26% and 40%, and annual carbon emissions by 63% and 64% for the two districts. These results indicate that impacts of electrification depend on the mix of building uses within a district, and coupling electrification with energy efficiency upgrades is an effective strategy to decarbonize buildings while maintaining or reducing the peak electric demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significantly reducing building sector greenhouse gas emissions is necessary to meet state and local climate stabilization goals. Initiatives to decarbonize home and building energy use are enabled by a new generation of advanced air source heat pumps (ASHPs) that provide efficient, comfortable heat even at low outdoor temperatures as well as highly efficient air conditioning in the summer. Coupled with thermal improvements to building envelopes and smart controls responsive to grid reliability needs, ASHPs are displacing the use of fossil fuels for comfort heating while providing a range of economic benefits. Investments to decarbonize buildings are most economical in natural market cycles of building construction, renovation and equipment replacement, and as part of community development initiatives to improve and preserve affordable housing. A growing number of state and local policies and programs are accelerating the rate of efficient electrification of home and building heating to replace fossil fuel heat with increasingly carbon-free renewable electricity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]