Acceptance, meant as a social issue, plays a fundamental role on different levels in the effective integration of technological innovations into building heating systems. Many efforts have been made in previous studies to understand the key indices and indicators of acceptance, used to improve the agreement of people towards the considered innovation and widen its use. In Italy many laws have come into force with the target of increasing the level of acceptance of renewable plants in terms of

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... fordability and economic benefits. The paper reports the Authors' experience in a specific application of solar assisted heat pump designed and built to provide up to the 70 % of the heating energy needs of Palacus sports center in Genoa, Italy. A voluntary passage from the heat pump heating mode to the classical burner has been noticed most of times when a technical action on the plant was required, despite of the well-known pollution and environmental impact. These difficulties can be overcome easily, working not on how people could better manage the innovative, not user-friendly plants, but on how the plant automation could satisfy the end-users' needs minimizing their intervention at affordable costs.