Climate friendly home modernisation to cost average German family €49,000 - analysis
Clean Energy Wire
Undertaking a climate friendly refurbishment of an average one-family home, including the installation of a heat pump, solar panels and insulation measures, will cost about 49,000 euros, energy non-profit consultancy co2online has calculated. A complete modernisation of a house with 110 square metres area and a gas heating would reduce the energy consumption by three quarters and cut CO2 emissions in half. Around 45 percent of the total costs of 89,000 euros can be covered with subsidies, the NGO said. At the same time, the home owners become independent from fluctuating and rising prices for fossil fuels. In the whole of Germany, about 86 percent of residential buildings have the potential for such a modernisation, co2online says.
The buildings sector accounts for roughly a third of Germany’s total CO2 emissions and has been slow to reduce its carbon footprint in the past years. A run on government support grants quickly totalling 20 billion euros for climate friendly construction earlier this year had to be temporarily suspended over fears that the programme could fund practices that are already considered industry standard.
