Heat pumps installed in over half of all new buildings in Germany in 2021 – report

Heat pumps are starting to play a significant role in Germany’s heat supply and were installed as the primary heating system in more than half of all new buildings in 2021, the national energy agency dena found in its latest “Buildings Report”. More than 170,000 heat pumps were sold in the country last year, half of which went into existing buildings. However, gas-fired heating systems still dominated the market overall, with 680,000 new heating systems being installed in new and existing buildings last year. Germany’s total stock of buildings continued to grow until 2022, reaching 19.4 million residential buildings and about two million non-residential ones. The average living space also grew to 47.7 square metres per capita, the dena report found. At the same time, 2021 was “a record year” for energy-efficient refurbishment grants, with nearly 150,000 accepted applications for support programmes. The report would serve as “an important database for urgent political and economic decisions in the heating transition,” dena head Andreas Kuhlmann said. The energy crisis caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine would require policymakers to become “more agile and ambitious” in reconciling climate action with economic stability, he argued.

In a bid to improve Germany’s record in achieving emission reductions in the buildings sector, the German government has said it aims to install half a million new heat pumps a year, a target that has been described as “ambitious but feasible” by the industry. Electricity-based heat pumps have become increasingly recognised as important alternatives to gas heating systems in Europe ever since gas supplies from Russia began dwindling.