Exploring Barriers to Heat Pump Adoption in Industry: Insights from a Survey

Exploring Barriers to Heat Pump Adoption in Industry: Insights from a Survey | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Exploring Barriers to Heat Pump Adoption in Industry: Insights from a Survey Ali Aydemir, Sven Alsheimer, Anne Kantel, Simon Hirzel This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9179690/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Electrifying industry is a key driver to achieve European climate targets while remaining competitive. For process heat, market-ready technologies like large-scale heat pumps offer significant potential to cut greenhouse gas emissions and boost energy efficiency. Beyond energy-policy driven aspects like the ratio of electricity to gas prices, time-variable electricity tariffs, and investment subsidies, knowledge-based factors are probably also have considerable influence on market penetration. This study is part of a broader action research initiative that combines diffusion analysis with the co-development of instruments supporting information cascades and reducing adoption barriers. To ensure that instruments developed meet industry needs, we conducted a survey on market diffusion of large-scale heat pumps. The questionnaire was developed in two steps: first, expert interviews were conducted at a professional trade fair for air conditioning and refrigeration technology to identify drivers and barriers. Based on this, a questionnaire was developed inspired by a typical business-to-business purchasing process, while focusing on identifying relevant actors, drivers and barriers. The online survey addressed approximately 615 industry professionals and was conducted between March and June 2025. We received 48 responses, with 31 referring specifically to process heat. Our findings show that integration into existing production structures and the need for technical expertise are seen as particularly challenging and important aspects for further market penetration. These findings suggest that support instruments should focus primarily on these aspects. large-scale heat pumps process heat market penetration barriers industry Technological Innovation Systems Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9179690","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":611818214,"identity":"b408317f-a789-4e2c-93e4-4498d7154d64","order_by":0,"name":"Ali Aydemir","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ali","middleName":"","lastName":"Aydemir","suffix":""},{"id":611818216,"identity":"d34b744a-48b7-4fc7-9ff1-68e1b58f59b1","order_by":1,"name":"Sven Alsheimer","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sven","middleName":"","lastName":"Alsheimer","suffix":""},{"id":611818228,"identity":"a1567744-1f73-48e6-8928-91ca05dc9aa0","order_by":2,"name":"Anne Kantel","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anne","middleName":"","lastName":"Kantel","suffix":""},{"id":611818233,"identity":"8c86ae62-4f77-476b-9903-004741285c84","order_by":3,"name":"Simon Hirzel","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Simon","middleName":"","lastName":"Hirzel","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-20 14:08:25","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9179690/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9179690/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":105728191,"identity":"980d7b81-b774-4aec-895a-c60243abb183","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-30 11:10:46","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":4676615,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ExploringBarrierstoHeatPumpAdoptioninIndustryInsightsfromaSurveyManuscriptanonymised.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9179690/v1_covered_4b0dd208-40d9-4a1a-968b-cb5afb221b6f.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Exploring Barriers to Heat Pump Adoption in Industry: Insights from a Survey","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"large-scale heat pumps, process heat, market penetration, barriers, industry, Technological Innovation Systems","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9179690/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9179690/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eElectrifying industry is a key driver to achieve European climate targets while remaining competitive. 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