The GIH, the largest association of energy consultants in Germany, has now warned against further delaying the heating law. People are said to be misled. This could lead to another 1.2 million gas heaters being installed by 2028. The situation after the postponement was “stupid for everyone who is now specifically faced with the question of what to do with their heating”.
“Stupid for everyone who is now faced with the specific question of what to do with their heating system”
“Germany’s largest association of energy consultants, GIH, has urgently warned against further delays in the heating law and has accused politicians of misleading people, which will lead to 1.2 million gas heaters being installed by 2028. The postponement after the judgment from Karlsruhe was “stupid for everyone who is now faced with the specific question of what to do with their heating,” said GIH national chairman Stefan Bolln of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (Saturday edition).
“It would be really fatal if the law could not come into force on January 1st.” Planning security is finally needed for people who have long been completely insecure. “That’s why the parliamentarians have to use the time in summer and pass the law immediately after the summer break,” said Bolln. If the law were to be untied again, as demanded by the Union faction, “the risk of further delays would be far too great”.
The GIH boss was shocked by the traffic light dispute of the past few months. “We energy consultants are really horrified to see how politicians have managed to make people completely unsettled or to make them mistakenly choose gas heating or even wood,” said Bolln. “The openness to technology, which is repeatedly and still being invoked by some, is nothing more than a placebo and irrelevant for the majority of households.” From the point of view of the GIH, it is also “very annoying that there is still a delay for gas heating of four years”.
Hardly anything will happen until the municipal heating plan is completed. As a result, valuable time is lost in the heat transition. “We are assuming that around 300,000 new gas heaters will be installed each year by then. In the vast majority of cases, this is much more expensive for the homeowner in the long run and definitely bad for the climate.”
It is also “very worrying” that in the past few months “many false hopes for heating with biogas or hydrogen have been awakened,” complained the association chairman and master chimney sweep. “According to the conviction of the entire professional world, hydrogen will hardly be available for individual heating. Maximum as a small admixture. Here, both technically and in terms of costs, mistakes are made.”
There is unanimity among experts: “The heat pump is the new gas heating system. In 30 years you will be very surprised why we have had these discussions about gas, biogas and hydrogen today,” continued Bolln. This has already led to a collapse in demand for heat pumps. “It’s also devastating for the many installers who don’t know exactly where to direct their operations. The result of party bickering is deadlock and frustration.”
He currently does not see how Germany can still achieve its goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2045 under these conditions, said Bolln. “The only positive thing: If you want to buy a heat pump now, you can get the device faster again.”
Report with material from the dts news agency
Photo: new building with heat pump, via dts news agency