Industrial buildings present specific characteristics that make them different from other types; in particular, they have much greater heights and therefore very high air temperature stratification. Furthermore, air heating systems are recently often coupled to a heat pump (typically air/water or direct expansion type) to comply with the obligations introduced by the European Renewable Energy Directive to get the mandatory renewable quota of 60%. It is worth asking whether, for industrial buildings, it is always advantageous, from an energy, environmental impact, and economic point of view, to opt for a heating system with air units (air heaters or ventilation units) coupled to an air/water heat pump. This article reports on a Trnsys® transient analysis of a typical industrial building modelled in two different climates. The performance of two heating plants, high temperature condensing radiant tubes and heat pump coupled with the air heater system, were compared through dynamic simulation. The results indicate that, when no photovoltaic system is installed, condensing radiant tubes are more advantageous than a heat pump system. The best solution depends on the climate, the characteristics of the building (less or more thermal insulation, which corresponds to existing buildings rather than new ones), and the size of the photovoltaic system eventually installed on the roof.