Germany's climate package support triggers heating modernisation wave – survey
Clean Energy Wire
About one in eight German property owners plan to replace their existing heating systems in the next two years, in part because of new government subsidies, a new survey from the German Sanitation, Heating and Air Conditioning Association (ZVSHK) found. A majority (63 percent) of home and building owners who plan to replace their heating systems cited environmental reasons, including a desire to reduce carbon emissions, the survey found. 18 percent said their main goal was reducing costs. ZVSHK head Michael Hilpert said the survey also found a need for greater education about the role of heating systems in reducing carbon emissions. The survey found that 58 percent of German homeowners thought their heating systems were not yet old enough to be modernised, while ZVSHK has found that only about 20 percent of current systems work efficiently and use renewable energy. "This shows a complete misjudgment of the efficiency of their own heating systems," Hilpert said in a press release accompanying the survey.
Heating is a major factor in Germany's energy consumption, and the country’s new climate package includes subsidies for property owners who swap out older, less efficient heating systems for more climate-friendly alternatives. Almost a third of the country's total final energy consumption in 2018 went into space and water heating in buildings, and more than 90 percent of Germany's heating systems are currently fueled with oil and natural gas, according to the Federation of the German Heating Industry (BDH).
