The phasing out of fossil fuels and the switch to renewable energy also affects home heating. And now the EU Commission is making a big move – because it is planning a de facto end for oil and gas heating in the member states from 2029. Existing systems would still be allowed, but due to high efficiency requirements, the heat pump would be clearly preferred from 2029.
To this end, the ecodesign legislation that has been in force for 10 years is currently being renewed in Brussels. It provides for: There should be efficiency requirements of 115 percent for heating systems, i.e. requirements that can already be achieved by today’s heat pumps or hybrid systems (combination of heat pump or solar collectors with conventional fuels such as natural gas, biogas, biofuel, synthetic fuel). “Existing gas pipelines and networks could continue to be used in many cases,” it continues.
“The industry should focus on energy- and climate-friendly solutions and use the remaining six years to make such energy-efficient devices the standard offer on the European market – just as the current ecodesign regulation ten years ago made condensing boilers the “new normal”. “, according to the European Commission. It is estimated that the total cost to consumers for heat pumps “will be lower than for gas boilers by 2029”.
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“Innovation signal to the manufacturers”
This draft for an EU regulation is currently still being discussed with the EU countries and associations; it requires a qualified majority of the member states. The topic of climate-friendly heating is now an enormously large and also very controversial one, which is why the EU Commission is also refraining from making any decisions about limit values for the time being. Example Germany: There, a new building energy efficiency law (“heating law” for short) is intended to ensure that pure oil or gas heating systems are to be banned from 2024 (intact heating systems do not have to be removed). The German traffic light coalition is still struggling to decide whether and which heating systems with other technologies can then be installed in addition to heat pumps.
According to the EU Commission, different EU countries are at different stages on the subject. In France, the installation of new oil heaters will be banned from July 2023, gas heaters may no longer be installed in new homes since January 2022; the French government is also planning to ban new gas heaters in existing homes. Similar laws are also planned or already implemented in the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark.
In Austria, since 2022, there has been a ministerial draft for phasing out fossil-fuelled heat supply called the Renewable Heat Act (EWG). The goals are the phase-out for oil, liquid gas and coal by 2035 and the phase-out for gas by 2040. However, it has not yet been decided in parliament, as there is no two-thirds majority.
With the proposal, the EU Commission wants to give an “innovation signal to the manufacturers”. This can have an effect, because meanwhile you can see a lot of movement towards heat pumps on the market. In Germany, for example, thermondo, the largest German heating installer, has announced that it will no longer accept new orders for oil heating systems. Only existing orders would still be processed, “after that, the almost 500 permanent craftsmen at thermondo will concentrate all the more on installing the heat pump,” it said recently.
thermondo: Largest German heating installer no longer sells oil heating