Climate-neutral German building stock requires power-to-gas infrastructure - study

Germany’s current climate protection measures do not go far enough to reach its existing CO2 reduction targets in the building sector by 2050, but there is nevertheless great potential for reducing energy-related greenhouse gas emissions in space and water heating, according to a new study commissioned by the country's environment agency (UBA). The study, conducted by researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, the Öko-Institute and the Hamburg Institute, derived four additional measures necessary to achieve the targets. It says the development of district heating infrastructure must have an impact on gas infrastructure; the interim climate targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions must be met; the decarbonization of the energy sector - especially power generation - must proceed rapidly with an ambitious renewable energy expansion plan and phase-out of coal-fired generation; and an infrastructure must be set up for the import and domestic generation of power-to-gas and power-to-liquid products.

Space and water heating currently account for around 30 percent of Germany's final energy consumption and, to date, continue to predominantly use fossil fuels. The study points out that many possible development paths for the transformation of the building sector have been identified in recent years. Some consider the building sector in isolation, while other scenarios cover the entire energy system. Among the latter, many of the scenarios focus solely on the electricity system, while only a few examine the integration of the two sectors.