The Swedish company ClimateWell, one of the most promising Clean-Tech companies in Europe, is now entering new markets with its solar-powered heating pump. ClimateWell has been financed by VINNOVA's program Forska&Väx.
The Swedish company ClimateWell, which has developed a solar-powered heating pump, is now entering new markets. It is already established in Spain and a factory has been built there. Now, new orders have come in from Australia and Italy and a partnership agreement for installations in the world’s 40 largest cities has been signed with Clinton Climate Initiative. A further success came in June 2009 when the company was named as Europe's most promising new environmental engineering company. 
“One quarter of the world’s emissions come from the heating and refrigeration of buildings, but our technology affords the opportunity to totally eliminate that quarter, says Per Olofsson, Managing Director of ClimateWell.
This technology is also used in the non-electric pump which the company developed with the support of VINNOVA’s Research&Grow programme. It has been met with great interest from customers and investors alike and is currently sold in Spain and Italy. In parallel with the launch of the heating pump, the company is working on two pilot projects which use waste heat from the Swedish steel industry, directing it to populated areas where it can be used in heating or refrigeration.
“In the next few years, we will be spreading this technology around the world. At the same time, we want to find new areas of use,” explains Olofsson.
“This technology is the ideal complement for solar panels where there is a great need to store energy. One feature apart from heat is that we can also get refrigeration from the heating pump. So it can provide free refrigeration during the warm heart of the day and heat when the sun goes down.”
One quarter of the world’s energy consumption is used on heating and refrigeration and a large proportion of this is based on fossil fuels. This means there is a great need for new ideas. Aided by the heating pump, solar panels would be able to replace some of the energy without emitting any carbon dioxide at all.
Per Olofsson sees several possible applications of the technology. One example is a major reduction in the fuel consumption of buses and lorries by using waste heat from the engine for air conditioning and engine warming.
“Another exciting application would be scaling up the technology so as to deal with waste heat from industry. This would help basic industry in Sweden manage its energy better and thereby increase companies’ competitiveness.”
