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Berlin (German news agency) – Germany’s forestry industry is fighting against the planned hurdles for wood heating in the Building Energy Act. “Biomass heating systems must also continue to be allowed to be installed in new buildings, because the EU Parliament recently decided that wood is one of the renewable energies,” said Georg Schirmbeck, President of the German Forestry Council, of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (Friday edition ).
The CO2 released when burning wood is finally bound again, because trees grow back. “As far as the CO2 balance is concerned, wood heating systems are a zero-sum game,” said Schirmbeck. The Federal Environment Agency advises against wood heating: The forest should be preserved as a carbon sink. In addition, only less carbon may be removed than is bound.
Economics Minister Robert Habeck does not want to ban the installation of biomass heating systems in new buildings. With biomass, however, the obligation to heat with at least 65 percent renewable energy cannot be met. This is only possible as a hybrid, i.e. if a heat pump is also installed. But that’s not enough for forestry.
“To rule out wood as a renewable regional heating energy would be highly absurd,” criticized Schirmbeck. “If there are strict conditions or even bans, the price of wood will go down. Many forest owners would say: Then I can leave the shit.” Nevertheless, Schirmbeck conceded that there had long been “a certain struggle for wood as a raw material”, since chipboard manufacturers, for example, needed the same material that is needed for pellets and there was “robust demand from abroad”. “It’s getting more expensive, and that’s completely appropriate, because forest wood was far too cheap for a long time. Prices will continue to rise,” predicted Schirmbeck. “But there is enough forest wood, also for heating.”
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