2023-04-21 18:37:04
In Germany, heating is a matter of debate. The government of Olaf Scholz presented, on April 19 in the Council of Ministers and after weeks of controversy, a bill aimed at drastically reducing CO2 emissions in the building sector. He is indeed one of the worst students in the country in terms of climate. It contributes 30% of the country’s total emissions, half of which are related to heating.
In 2000, the sector struggled to reduce its emissions by 15% when it is supposed to reduce them by 65% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels… that is to say in less than seven years. A more than ambitious objective, while 48% of households use gas for heating and 25% of them have an oil-fired boiler.
hydrogen boilers
To catch up, the government, pushed by environmentalists, plans to speed up the schedule. From January 2024, all new boilers must operate with at least 65% renewable energy. This opens the door to heat pumps, electric heaters – associated with an upgrade of insulation systems –, district heating, as well as hybrid installations including, for example, solar or even boilers capable of operating on electricity. ‘hydrogen.
Remember that in France it is now forbidden to install oil-fired boilers. It is also forbidden to install a gas boiler in new individual housing, but nothing prevents it from being done as part of a renovation or in collective housing.
Berlin provides for a few exceptions and deadlines for implementation, as well as massive financial aid, ranging from 30 to 50% of the total cost. “If the heating needs to be replaced or reinstalled, we won’t leave anyone alone”, tried to reassure the Federal Minister for the Economy, the ecologist Robert Habeck. He wants to finance this measure to the tune of 9 billion euros per year via the climate fund, itself fed by unused credit lines during the pandemic. A point, however, questioned this week by his finance colleague, the liberal Christian Lindner.
Lack of manpower
Professionals, for their part, raise the difficulties associated with implementation, while the heating sector is short of manpower. And what about the capacity of German and European companies to supply heat pumps, when a large part of the supply comes from China?
As for the transition from gas to hydrogen, it is far from guaranteed, especially since across the Rhine industry will be a priority to benefit from green hydrogen, produced by the new sector which is just beginning to take its rise.
#step #renewable #energy #heating #revolution