6. Conclusion

Heat pump technology has been mature for several years. In France, the market is dominated by systems using air as an energy carrier in both cold and hot sources. Water and soil can also be used as energy carriers. Future technological developments will focus on exchangers to make them more compact, more efficient compressors (notably with the worldwide emergence of compressors with magnetic bearings), and the use of working fluids with the lowest possible environmental impact, while maintaining optimum energy performance. Finally, heat pumps can be integrated into complex energy cascades (to recover waste heat or meet variable needs). In this case, the control/command of the complex system, with or without integration of a storage system, will be crucial to ensure that the heat pump meets requirements with optimum energy performance.