Finnish Smart Heating Oy wins the European Heat Pump Association DecarBuilding Award

Finland is known for its cold climate and therefore home to many innovations that work in rough conditions. The European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) has chosen Smart Heating Oy as the 2025 “DecarBuilding Award” winner. This category honors projects that drive decarbonization in residential and tertiary sectors by heat pumps and clean energy. Smart Heating’s solution demonstrates how digital innovation and hybrid heating deliver reliable and sustainable energy.

The winning hybrid heating system for the EHPA DecarBuilding Award is located in the Finnish capital city, Helsinki, where the temperatures can be -30C during the winter and +30C during the summer. “Until 2024, district heating has been the biggest source for CO2 emissions in the Finnish Capital City Area. Utilizing the Smart Heating waste heat recovery system, the district heating need is cut by more than 50%. When geothermal heat is used instead of district heating, the whole energy consumption can be CO2-free, as electricity used in Finland is often from renewable energy sources” says the CEO Pertti Nissilä.

The problem is that not all properties have enough space for so many geothermal wells (boreholes) that district heating could not be used at all. This was also the case in the 51-appartment As. Oy Helsingin Veijarivuorenpuisto residential building, which chose a Smart Heating speciality, i.e. a “partial” geothermal heating system. In Veijarivuorenpuisto, 11% of the heat energy comes from district heating, and 89% is produced from renewable sources, i.e. 6 geothermal wells (each 350 m deep) and the efficient exhaust air recovery system.

This type of smart hybrid heating systems are scalable and play a crucial role for the EU renewable energy policy: the Renewable Energy Directive established a 42.5% target for the share of renewable energies of the EU by 2030, with the aim of achieving 45%.

Media Contact at Smart Heating Oy:

Kaisu Halonen, sales & marketing development, p. +358 40 531 8181, e-m. kaisu.halonen@smartheating.fi

Smart Heating Oy

Smart Heating was founded 2014 by two brothers, Arto and Pertti Nissilä, who are still actively involved in the business. The idea came from Arto who had developed a DIY hybrid heating system in his garage for his own house. Today, the company has 23 employees and soon 170 projects combining waste heat recovery, geothermal heating and district heating as the energy sources. The smart automation understands outside and room temperatures and e.g. electricity spot pricing. The company turnover was EUR 5.85 million in 2024, and it’s still owned e.g. by the two brothers as well as Halton Ventures Oy, a family-owned Finnish company offering indoor air solutions globally.