Swedish heat pump startup plans to wean Europe off gas

Buildings produce about a third of carbon emissions in Europe, where the boiler is dominant in many countries. — Bloomberg

OSLO: Not many product launches start with a declaration of war. But for Aira, a heat pump manufacturer and installer created last year by Swedish private equity firm Vargas, the gloves are off.

“The boiler is the enemy,” Daniel Särefjord, chief executive officer of Aira UK, proclaimed as he debuted the company’s first proprietary heat pump in London last week. “That’s the only enemy we have.”

That enemy is currently everywhere. Buildings produce about a third of carbon emissions in Europe, where the boiler is dominant in many countries.

Roughly 80% of UK households still use gas for heating. The push to decarbonise home heating, meanwhile, has become increasingly contentious.

In February, the heat pump industry recorded its first drop in European sales in a decade, a decline attributed to negative narratives about the technology, delays to European green policies and concerns about inflation.

Aira is attempting to address those hurdles head on.

Särefjord said the company’s heat pumps can generate four units of heat for every unit of power they use, making them a no-brainer for households focused on energy efficiency.

To alleviate upfront costs, Aira offers monthly payment plans. And to fight negative perceptions about reliability, it plans to “guarantee comfort” for 15 years.

If a homeowner is unsatisfied with performance during that time frame, the company will make adjustments free of charge.

“It almost does not matter what politicians do. It’s very hard to fight something that’s four times better, requires a hell of a lot less maintenance and can’t poison people to death,” Särefjord told Bloomberg Green. — Bloomberg