The European Commission instituted wastewater heat recovery as a renewable energy source in its recast of the directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, also known as RED II. This recognition comes as wastewater heat recovery is becoming an increasingly popular energy source for houses, apartment buildings, hotels and swimming pools. As of 2019, a total of 25 companies have designed wastewater heat recovery devices for houses and apartments, a 50% increase since 2016.
This addition will have strong consequences into national building codes and energy efficiency policies, as EU countries are committed to ensuring most of the energy used in houses and apartments to be built is renewable energy. Until then, it meant mostly photovoltaics, thermal solar heating or heat pumps. Now waste water heat recovery is added to those techniques as a very cost-effective solution to that goal.
Manufacturers and distributors of wastewater heat recovery systems have joined their efforts in an association to promote this energy source through policy adaptations and a common high standard of quality -- all members of the association have their products tested by independent laboratories.