The struggle for the heating law continues even after the basic agreement on the traffic light for improvements. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck speaks out against focusing too much on hydrogen for heating. The Greens politician told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” that he was “proud of every change” that would make the building energy law better. But there is “a tricky point, and that is the hydrogen”. He would be happy if gas heaters could run on hydrogen. “I’m just afraid that it’s not enough for that.” The existing hydrogen is first required for areas such as the steel industry, in which the transformation does not work any differently.
A few days ago, after a long struggle, a top group of the traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP cleared the way for the controversial heating law. According to the agreement, the Building Energy Act and a Heat Planning Act are to be linked and both will come into force on January 1, 2024. If you are connected to a district heating network, you no longer have to worry about installing a heat pump.
Mandatory municipal heat planning is to be introduced by 2028 at the latest. This is intended to give citizens an important orientation by letting them know whether their house will soon be connected to a district or local heating network or whether they should convert their heating system to a heat pump in the foreseeable future. As long as there is no municipal heating plan, gas heaters should also be allowed to be installed during the exchange – if they can be converted to hydrogen. The FDP had previously insisted on being open to technology.
Debate about pellet heating
However, Habeck warned against making “empty promises” to consumers. First of all, “it must be reliably clarified whether and where hydrogen is really available for heating”. Otherwise consumers would end up with a hydrogen heater without hydrogen. “That would be very expensive.”
Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke is calling on the Bundestag to clarify the use of wood pellet heating systems. “We had found a very good solution for this with the Ministry of Economic Affairs: Pellet heating should remain possible, but must meet certain environmental and health protection requirements,” said the Green politician “Zeit Online”. “If the Bundestag wants to change that, it will be difficult to take adequate account of the protection of the forests.” Air pollution is also a problem. Pellet heating systems must have so-called dust separators and it must be ensured that primary wood is not used for energetic purposes.
Greens leader Ricarda Lang appeals to consumers to stop installing fossil fuel heating systems. “Anyone who convinces people that gas and oil heating systems are worthwhile is actively deceiving consumers,” she told the newspapers of the Funke media group. The prices for fossil fuels would rise sharply in the next few years. Lang also said that the changeover to the heating system would have to be promoted on a graduated basis according to income.
It remains unclear whether there will be an obligation to connect to district heating. The association of municipal companies had described this as “not unreasonable”. Now the future general manager of the Association of Towns and Municipalities followed suit. An obligation to connect “would make sense” to ensure profitability, said André Berghegger of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (Saturday). “If everyone is connected, then the investment is worthwhile.”
