Heatwave: Uniclima highlights the role of reversible heat pumps and high-performance ventilation in a reasoned adaptation of buildings

Uniclima welcomes this approach, which recognizes that summer comfort is becoming a key issue in adapting buildings, protecting occupants, and ensuring the continued use of housing, public buildings, and commercial buildings. The organization nevertheless emphasizes the need to go beyond the announced measures by more fully integrating summer comfort into public policies in order to provide sustainable and appropriate solutions to increasingly frequent heat waves.

The professional organization for the thermal, air handling and refrigeration industries particularly welcomes the inclusion of reversible heat pumps among the high-performance active solutions.

For Camille Beurdeley, General Delegate of Uniclima: “The heat waves we are experiencing remind us that summer comfort is no longer a secondary issue, but a crucial matter of adapting buildings and protecting people. Uniclima welcomes the recognition that reversible heat pumps are among the useful solutions, provided that a responsible approach is adopted: first, reduce energy needs, then use equipment that is properly sized, installed, adjusted, and operated with restraint.”

Summer comfort: a matter of adaptation and public health

The increasing frequency of heat waves necessitates a rethinking of summer comfort as a matter of climate change adaptation. In homes, schools, nursing homes, healthcare facilities, and exposed commercial buildings, maintaining an acceptable indoor temperature is becoming crucial for protecting occupants, especially during prolonged or intense heat waves, or those accompanied by high nighttime temperatures.

Uniclima emphasizes that improving summer comfort relies on a combination of complementary solutions: adapting buildings, solar shading, efficient mechanical ventilation, air circulators, bioclimatic design, and also high-performance heating equipment. In this context, the most efficient reversible heat pumps offer a relevant solution, particularly considering their performance and cost-effectiveness.

Dual-flow ventilation also contributes to summer comfort by limiting the intake of hot air from outside thanks to its passive heat recovery system. This helps to slow the rise in indoor temperature: for example, when the indoor air temperature is 24°C and the outdoor air temperature reaches 30°C, the heat recovery system allows for the supply of 25°C air into the home.

Reversible heat pumps: solutions to consider in their various uses

Uniclima emphasizes that air-to-air heat pumps should not be viewed solely as cooling equipment, but as fully-fledged heat pumps: they provide heating in winter and can offer comfort in summer with a single unit. In practice, they are used primarily for heating, accounting for 33% of the time, compared to 11% for cooling, with the unit switched off the rest of the time.

It thus constitutes a complete thermal solution, particularly suitable for homes without a hot water loop, especially those heated by electric radiators.

Field data confirms the benefits of this equipment when replacing less efficient systems. ADEME's research on air-to-air heat pumps shows, for example, that in a sample of households that replaced electric radiators, electricity consumption for heating was reduced by an average of half[1]. This finding underscores that air-to-air heat pumps should also be considered a tool for energy efficiency during the heating season.

From January to April 2026, nearly 355.000 air-to-air heat pumps were sold[2] (803.661 in 2025). This market level reflects the importance of this equipment in household choices and the need to support its deployment with a clear, stable, and demanding framework.

Air-to-water or geothermal heat pumps can also contribute to summer comfort when combined with suitable emitters, such as underfloor cooling or fan coil units. They allow for cooling the home by lowering the temperature by a few degrees compared to the outside temperature.

High-performance equipment, provided it is used responsibly and under supervision.

Uniclima welcomes the principle of a reduced VAT rate of 5,5% for the most efficient reversible air/air heat pumps, a provision included in the finance law since January 1, 2026. Uniclima nevertheless reiterates the urgent need to publish the decree defining the technical eligibility criteria, which has been awaited for several months, in order to make this measure fully operational without further delay.

This measure sends a positive signal to encourage households to choose fixed equipment that is more efficient and better suited than a portable air conditioner.

The implementation of this approach must be coordinated with all stakeholders in the sector to guarantee the quality of installations and prevent excessive use. The benefits of reversible heat pumps depend on proper sizing, professional installation, appropriate settings, good airflow direction, regular maintenance, continued effective ventilation, and control tailored to the building's actual needs.

The use of active cooling should remain targeted during hot periods, with a reasonable setpoint, for example around 26°C in summer, and intermittent use when conditions allow.

In this context, Uniclima reiterates that frugal use must remain at the heart of the development of efficient cooling.

For Camille Beurdeley, General Delegate of Uniclima: "The goal is not to provide air conditioning everywhere and without limits, but to enable buildings and occupants to get through critical periods in good conditions, with efficient, controllable and properly integrated equipment."

[1] ADEME – Study on the energy consumption of air-to-air heat pumps: https://librairie.ademe.fr/batiment/8595-etude-sur-les-consommations-des-pac-air-air.html

[2] Sales from manufacturers to distributors, to be distinguished from installed equipment.

Image illustrating the article via Depositphotos.com.