Wif he had taken his savings into his hands six months ago and gone to the bank with the words “I would like to make a big investment in a fan heater”, the friendly employee would probably have explained that as a changing business risk. Fan heaters, those undemanding sweatboxes, had established themselves in their niche. Mobile hot maker for the workshop, the caravan, the garden shed. Not efficient but easy. Solid heel, but no treasure. They weren’t intended for the living room or the kitchen, and certainly not to save money. Only now everything is different. Now the Germans are buying fan heaters like crazy because they don’t trust that the gas boiler will still serve them in winter. And because coal briquettes, wood, heat pumps and solar systems are no longer accessible anyway.
With the fan heater boom, other supposed certainties have fizzled out. Now the head of the FDP declares wind turbines to be “freedom energies”. The co-boss of the Greens commissions LNG terminals. A Fridays for Future activist explains that the “extended operation” of the nuclear power plants is reasonable. The head of Bavaria, who was still cycling through lovely landscapes in the election commercial, calls for fracking – even if not on his own doorstep.