German Economy Minister Robert Habeck want to accelerate the shift away from oil and gas by supporting the transition to heat pumps and renewable energies. Consumers now have many questions. Heat pumps are considered to be particularly climate-friendly. But the new technology also unsettles many consumers. Thermondo founder Pausder clears up myths about heating renovation and suggests how the "heat transition" can be accelerated. Philipp Pausder would like to erase one sentence from speech and minds. Namely, that old houses have to be insulated before you can install a heat pump. That's what he hears over and over again. "Insulation is not necessary, the heat pump works that way," he says emphatically. Pausder is the founder and CEO of Thermondo, a company that offers complete systems for house heating and, according to its own statements, is the largest heating installer in Germany. The company converts existing single-family homes to heat pumps in series and also offers rental models. And they have set one goal above all: to enormously accelerate the installation speed of such pumps in this country - and thus the heat transition. Two things in particular are currently acting as a stumbling block for the technology, or rather for its use in existing residential buildings: On the one hand, there is the mantra that heat pumps do not work in old buildings as long as the house in question has not been completely energy-refurbished. That is what many energy experts and plumbing specialists still claim. "It's a myth. And this myth must finally be dispelled," Pausder explains. And on the other hand, there is the heating and plumbing industry itself. Not enough skilled workers for installation. The industry currently has only 275,000 employees, and only a fraction of them are even familiar with the subject of heat pumps: According to industry figures, only 15 percent of companies are currently able to plan and install heat pumps. According to the industry itself, there would be a shortage of around 60,000 skilled workers in the plumbing and heating industry to set up the six million heat pumps that the federal government has set itself as a target for 2030. The installation of the devices is quite complex - at least much more complex than the connection of a new gas heating system. That's why the conversion is progressing so slowly overall. On average, says the SHK Association, an installer currently installs 0.8 heat pumps per month - also because it takes around 18 man-days to do so. At this rate, it would take another 15 years for Germany to install those six million heat pumps. But there is a way to significantly speed up the process, say those in charge at Thermondo. They projected how heat pump installation could soon be increased to ten times the speed. An installer could then even connect eight heat pumps per month. The heating company presented the plans for this at an event on Tuesday and discussed them with energy experts and the head of the department at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Alexander Renner. But the number could be increased There are three levers that can be used to increase installation performance: First, the industry must focus more on the division of labor. Second, it must standardize and make planning and installation processes more digital. Thirdly, they must enable lateral entrants to help out with the installation. The division of labor "sounds trivial," says Gerke Gersema, Managing Director at Thermondo. "Every craftsman should concentrate on what his craft is." In fact, however, the heat pump installation has so far been anything but a division of labor, he explains and, as a former McKinsey consultant, also brought the appropriate diagram with him. A total of 35 work steps are necessary, from the first inspection of the house, to planning, preparing an offer, and ordering materials, to building the foundations, preparing the electrical system and finally installing the heat pump. It is common in most companies "that all these work steps are still done by craftsmen." However, the craftsman's knowledge is only immediately necessary for three steps, namely the construction of foundations, electrical preparations and the installation of the pump. So if you outsource the planning and preparatory and follow-up work to the back office, the craftsmen's strength could be used much better. https://amp.n-tv.de/wirtschaft/Wie-der-Waermepumpen-Umstieg-gelingen-kann-article24069532.html?xing_share=news