Heating system suppliers in Germany have told the government that they are capable of producing electric heat pumps on a large scale for household installations to replace oil and gas boilers and diminish the use of environmentally dangerous fossil fuels, however the government must maintain its flexibility on options to cut the heating sector’s use of carbon-based fuels.
Managing director of the Federation of German Heating Industry (BDH), Markus Staudt, said at a press conference ahead of the trade fair ISH that runs next week, “The industry is committed to supporting government goals to install 500,000 new pumps each year from 2024.” He noted, producers were increasing production capacities presently.
He went on, “But we must give some 11 million old and inefficient heating systems and those installed in recent years a chance to continue running partly on green gases.”
The government in Berlin is preparing to launch a new set of policies which will cut the CO2 emissions from buildings – a sector which consumes more than a quarter of all energy in Germany, and which is responsible for 15% of the nation’s CO2 emissions.
The Economy and Housing ministries have proposed that it be mandated that new heating systems that are installed use a minimum of 65% CO2-free energy sources as their input, starting in 2024.
However the industry is arguing that the government should not seek to ban oil and gas too soon, as that is presently technically and financially unrealistic.
Helmut Bramann, managing director of another lobbying group in the sector, ZVSHK, said, “We can’t bet on an all-electric solution, which would require an urgent and crazy-sum power network expansion.”
He added that in addition to straining the electric grid, a ban could also prevent the development of new technologies, like renewable gasses which could be delivered using existing pipeline infrastructure, as wall as hybrid systems which would use fossil fuels, but also introduce more solar and photovoltaic energy.
Data has shown the nation is making progress nonetheless. Of the 980,000 new heating units installed last year, 236,000 were heat pumps, which extract heat from the ground or air, and concentrate it for delivery into the home. Sales for such systems were up 53%, according to BDH data.
However there were still 598,500 gas units installed in 2022, and the remainder used heating oil, or biomass, such as wood pellets from the sawmill industry’s waste streams.
At a separate appearance, Economy Minister Robert Habeck promised the government was preparing additional financial support to assist in modernizing homes to conserve energy and be more environmentally friendly.
