UL Solutions Expands European HVAC Testing to Address Surging Heat Pump Market and New Regulations

The new laboratory in Italy supports heat pump manufacturers with advanced testing facilities, streamlined regulatory compliance services and sustainable heat pump performance evaluations for the European market.

UL Solutions, a global leader in applied safety science, today announced a significant expansion of its heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) testing facility in Carugate, Italy, addressing rapidly growing European demand for comprehensive heat pump performance and safety testing.

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Guests celebrate the opening of the expanded UL Solutions HVAC Laboratory on May 14, 2025, in Carugate, Italy. Pictured above left to right: Luca Maggioni​, mayor of Carugate; Mirko Bautz, regional vice president, Europe Central-East & South, UL Solutions; Alberto Uggetti, executive vice president and chief commercial officer​, UL Solutions; Alessio Dellanoce​, vice president and general manager, Appliances, HVAC and Lighting, UL Solutions;​ and Davide Atzeni, director and regional general manager, EMEA, Appliances, HVAC and Lighting, UL Solutions​.

This rising demand in turn is being driven by the widespread adoption of environmentally friendly refrigerants and evolving regulatory requirements. The expanded Carugate laboratory offers HVAC services that provide performance testing alongside the company’s established safety expertise, specifically catering to European manufacturers of heat pumps for both residential and commercial buildings. These services aim to help manufacturers adopt alternative refrigerants effectively and enhance confidence that they meet new standards while developing more efficient products.

Heat pumps efficiently heat and cool by moving existing heat. In winter, they draw heat from outside to warm a building, and in summer, they expel indoor heat to cool it, making this electricity-powered refrigerant cycle more energy-efficient than traditional systems.

Key new capabilities in the Carugate laboratory include energy-efficiency, safety and eco-design requirement testing for the environmental performance of air-to-water and water-to-water heat pumps. These tests focus on energy consumption in “standby” and “off” modes; how efficiently a heat pump moves heat energy; and sound power level, which measures operational noise. In addition, the laboratory offers wireless and electromagnetic compatibility analysis of heat pump operation when near electronic devices or electromagnetic emissions.

By complementing these services with UL Marketing Claim Verification and custom research and development programs, UL Solutions acts as a comprehensive service provider for heat pump manufacturers, helping them reduce testing lead times, comply with mandatory regulations and accelerate global market access.

“These enhanced capabilities in Europe reinforce our dedication to offering comprehensive, unified services for the HVAC sector,” said Alessio Dellanoce, vice president and general manager of the Appliances, HVAC and Lighting group at UL Solutions. “Having performance and safety testing conducted at one central laboratory in Europe simplifies the testing process for our customers and helps enable them to get their products to targeted markets faster, all while demonstrating that their products meet safety and efficiency requirements.”

The European air conditioning and commercial refrigeration sectors are navigating a transition shaped by climate change policies, including the need for HVAC testing. For example, the European Union’s “Fit for 55” plan, which aims for a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, requires assessment of heat pumps for energy performance. Concurrently, the HVAC industry is increasingly using alternative refrigerants such as R32 and R454B, as well as natural refrigerants such as R290, necessitating tests to address the unique properties of these refrigerants, particularly their flammability, to demonstrate their safety, performance and regulatory compliance.

As the HVAC industry evolves with new regulations and consumer demand for sustainable technologies, manufacturers must demonstrate progress toward sustainability without compromising safety or performance. In Europe, UL Solutions supports compliance with EU regulations like Ecodesign and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), and is also a certification body for KEYMARK, the European certification mark showing the conformity of products with European standards.

Learn more about UL Solutions’ services for heat pumps.

About UL Solutions

A global leader in applied safety science, UL Solutions (NYSE: ULS) transforms safety, security and sustainability challenges into opportunities for customers in more than 110 countries. UL Solutions delivers testing, inspection and certification services, together with software products and advisory offerings, that support our customers’ product innovation and business growth. The UL Mark serves as a recognized symbol of trust in our customers’ products and reflects an unwavering commitment to advancing our safety mission. We help our customers innovate, launch new products and services, navigate global markets and complex supply chains, and grow sustainably and responsibly into the future. Our science is your advantage.

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