It all sounds like progress on Monday at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and it should. Green Minister Robert Habeck sees a “strong signal”, “determination” and a “broad alliance” – and all of this to do with the heat transition. All things, then, that the traffic light coalition has been fighting over for weeks when it comes to German heating systems. However, on Monday, Habeck and Construction Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD) were not the guests of the coalition, but representatives of municipalities, public services, consumer protection: for the “district heating summit”. Meanwhile, the traffic light was arguing.
District heating expansion is one of the crucial pieces of the traffic light coalition heat transition puzzle. In cities in particular, direct heat supply is often the simplest way to make buildings fossil fuel independent. It is no longer gas or oil boilers that provide heat in radiators and water pipes, but more or less distant thermoelectric power plants. By 2030, at least half of them, in turn, should run on renewable energy – whether from biomass combustion, large heat pumps or geothermal energy. “In the medium term, at least 100,000 new buildings will be connected to the heating network every year,” says the joint statement by the District Heating Alliance.
District heating therefore plays an important role in the specifications that Germany’s boiler must face in the future. After all, for the foreseeable future, every new heating system must run on 65% renewable energy – or district heating. In communities with more than 10,000 inhabitants, a “heating plan” will be published in the future, where exactly the heating networks will be placed, and the respective law may pass this month in the cabinet. So far there are no signs of major resistance.
It should be clear by Tuesday morning whether the warming law will be on the agenda.
But while the Friends of District Heating are forging a new alliance at the Ministry of Economy, a few hundred yards away the coalition factions are talking heatedly – about the trickiest part of the heating transition: what exactly are the conditions for millions of homeowners? residences? When do they have to throw away old heaters, and what support do they get in doing so? It should be clear by Tuesday morning whether the “Energy in Buildings Act” will be on the Bundestag’s agenda. If the government factions are unsuccessful in this, the heating amendment will be a thing of the past before the summer break. In that case, the coalition would have a serious problem with one of its main concerns, climate protection – and its ability to act would also be in question.
The heat transition has been underway for a long time, at least for new buildings. Also on Monday, the Federal Statistical Office presented new figures documenting the triumph of the electric heat pump. Thus, three-quarters of the houses built last year are heated wholly or partly with renewable energy. In 57% of new buildings, this is done by a heat pump. Natural gas, which was still the most important heating energy in every second new building in 2015, will still account for a good quarter in 2022. The trend is even clearer when it comes to building permits, i.e. houses that have not yet been built: in three quarters, the main source of heat is renewable. In 71% of cases, the heat pump heats up at some point. “The numbers indicate an absolutely positive trend,” says SPD housing politician Bernhard Daldrup. The new building in the country is “consistently on the path to climate neutrality”.
However, alternatives beyond district heating and heat pumps remain controversial. Last week, an alliance of environmental organizations warned against the increased use of wood and wood pellets. This adds to the already massive pressure on forests and is ultimately not climate-friendly because for every tree felled you have to grow back. Above all, the FDP pushed to allow fuels like wood to be opened up to technology.
On Monday, environmental organizations WWF and Deutsche Umwelthilfe will follow up – with calculations by the Prognos Institute on heating costs for hydrogen and biogas. Both variants would therefore be more expensive in the long run than installing a heat pump, either in a single-family home or in an apartment building. According to the calculation available to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, operating a hydrogen-based heating system will cost more than twice as much as a heat pump in 2035. “Pretending that hydrogen heating is a good option is deceiving the consumer,” he says. Heike Vesper, WWF expert. This type of heating is “like gold on the surface of a road: resource intensive, inefficient and expensive”.