Düsseldorf The belts on the Viessmann heating engineer’s production line come to a standstill when Olaf Scholz enters the area. During his visit to the family company’s headquarters in Allendorf, the Federal Chancellor is allowed to turn a screw in a heat pump – of course, without the device moving as usual during this time. After all, it is a symbolic action.
The chancellor’s visit makes it clear that something urgently needs to be done when it comes to heating. So far, the majority of German households have been warming their own four walls with gas heaters. This is not only a problem in view of the climate crisis – the fear of a gas shortage in winter due to insufficient supplies from Russia is causing the federal government to pull out all the stops when it comes to saving energy.
After completing the work on the heat pump at Viessmann, Scholz announces: “The demand for fossil resources will also increase massively with the growing economic prosperity of many other countries.” That is why the prices would not fall again as quickly “as we would like”. Scholz says: “And that’s why we also protect our wallets if we manage to ensure that we can guarantee a good life in our houses, apartments and offices without such expensive resources.”
That is why the conversion at Viessmann is also important for Chancellor Olaf Scholz in view of the current political conditions. Because the heating engineer wants to invest one billion euros in research and development as well as production capacities over the next three years, also in order to quickly produce more heat pumps.
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Gas heaters, which are so popular in Germany, have the serious disadvantage that their fuel is likely to become scarce and expensive in winter. Russia has been delivering less natural gas to Germany for weeks in order to put pressure on the Ukraine conflict. The task now is to save as much gas as possible – especially when it comes to heating.
High costs, problems in old buildings: the disadvantages of heat pumps prevent them from spreading
Scholz puts it this way in Allendorf: “It’s about the latest technologies that should enable us to use heat, protect our climate and do this without resorting to existing fossil resources. This is an important project of the current federal government.”
Viessmann CEO Max Viessmann adds: “The success of the energy and building transition is now a top priority in politics.” That was a major challenge even before February 24, when Russia invaded Ukraine. But now that is all the more true.
The dispute with Russia exacerbates a need that was already there: the federal government wants around six million heat pumps to be installed in German households by 2030. According to the Federal Association of the German Heating Industry, in 2020 it was just over a million.
The heating structure in Germany is still dominated by heaters that burn fossil fuels. In 2020 there were around 14 million gas heaters, five million oil heaters, almost a million biomass boilers – including pellet heaters – and a very small number of fuel cell heaters (about 13,000).
Germany wants to be climate-neutral by 2045 – including in the building sector. However, the energy transition can only succeed if there is also a heat transition.
>> Read also: Heat pump: Not always the best alternative to oil heating or gas heating
The advantage of heat pumps over other types of heating is that they can be operated with green electricity and are therefore ideally not dependent on fossil fuels. But there are still some disadvantages that prevent them from gaining acceptance as quickly as politically desired.
Some apartments in old buildings are so poorly insulated that a heat pump is not sufficient for heating in winter. If you want to heat with a heat pump, you often have to install large radiators first.
More and more homeowners are asking themselves how useful a heat pump would be for them.
(Photo: dpa)
Overall, the installation costs for heat pumps are generally significantly higher than for gas heating systems. Anyone who heats with electricity is then at least more independent of the high gas prices in terms of consumption. However, given the currently high electricity prices, consumers have to calculate exactly when a heat pump is financially worthwhile.
Viessmann, Vaillant, Bosch: Heat pumps as future business
Not only Viessmann has recognized the trend towards heat pumps. Other large heating contractors are also investing heavily in the new technology. For example, Bosch has already invested 400 million euros in its heat pump business over the past four years, and another 300 million euros are to be added by the middle of the decade.
Vaillant has been investing heavily in expanding the heat pump business since 2016. This includes the transformation of the European manufacturing and development locations towards heat pumps. According to the company, the production capacities for heat pumps in Germany, France and Slovakia have been massively expanded.
More: When is a fuel cell heating system worthwhile for homeowners