The article deals with the theme of thermal recovery from exhaust air through heat pumps (EAHP). After a description of the main features of this technology and a classification of the possible systems, the technical characteristics and performances of an EAHP, which have been validated through field and laboratory experimentation, are illustrated. The heating and cooling energy performances of buildings equipped with this kind of thermal machine have been validated, addressing themes such as the dimensioning of the EAHP, the fraction of the requirements of maximum power or of useful thermal or cooling energy covered by it, the mean seasonal yield and the primary energy requirements. The energy analyses, carried out on an elevated number of test cases in order to be able to draw as general considerations as possible, have been elaborated through an evaluation model of the dynamic thermal behaviour of the building-plant system, implemented in a Matlab Simulink (R) environment, and validated through a comparison with the most well known simulation programmes. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.