Home » Natural gas prices soared by 2 times, how to spend this winter in Germany_Heating_Energy_Firewood

Natural gas prices soared by 2 times, how to spend this winter in Germany_Heating_Energy_Firewood

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Original title: natural gas prices soared 2 times how Germany spends this winter

[ 家住德国北部小镇吕田堡的玛丽亚去年完成了自己小家的建造,她家约150平方米的屋顶铺满了太阳能发电板。“这里邻近北欧,每年即使到5月依然需要暖气,有了这套太阳能取暖系统,可以保证全年的暖气和热水免费使用。虽然额外支付了设备和安装费,但是有政府补助还是划算的。”玛丽亚告诉记者。 ]

As a country in the middle and high latitudes, starting in October, Germany officially entered a six-month heating period.

According to the latest data from the German price comparison website check24, the average price of natural gas in Germany in September 2022 was 21.855 euro cents/kWh. Based on the standard that a household consumes 20,000 kWh per year, the natural gas fee to be paid in 2022 will be as high as 4371 euros, while the same The consumption will only be 1316 euros in 2021, an increase of 232%.

Germany’s natural gas and other energy sources mainly rely on imports, and the high cost makes heating bills a large annual expense for the public. According to the German Federal Statistics Office, housing and energy expenditures account for about one-third of the average German household consumption, far exceeding food and transportation, and this proportion will increase significantly this year. This means that in the face of this long and gloomy winter, how to arrange the exponentially increasing natural gas bills has long been not only a topic of discussion at the German government level, but a light or heavy economic burden placed in front of every ordinary family.

Saving words first, saving money first

The heating and hot water in Germany adopts the household charging method, that is, according to the actual consumption of each household, pay more for more use, and pay less for less use, and the heating and water temperature can be adjusted according to their own needs. Therefore, for most Germans, the immediate solution to reducing energy bills is to lower the temperature and shorten the usage time.

The Yasudas, who are nearly 70, live in the northern German city of Kiel in an apartment building built in the 1980s that uses natural gas for heating and hot water. The apartment is 85 m² in size and in 2021 the heating bill will be 860 EUR and the hot water bill will be 700 EUR. “This is the third time I have received a notice of gas price increase, and it is estimated that the total of these two costs will exceed 4,000 euros this year.” Yasuda told Yicai.com, “After paying these bills, I will have little retirement salary left. So I plan to turn on the heat only at night and go to the nearby library or supermarket to warm up during the day.”

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It’s not just German retirees who have this concern, Anna is a bank clerk in Frankfurt. She told reporters: “In order to save hot water, I now encourage myself to go to the gym every day. On the one hand, I can exercise, and on the other hand, I can solve the problem of bathing. The gym membership fee is 25 euros per month, and the hot water fee saved by taking a bath alone is at least 25 euros. Can offset half of the membership fee.”

“Travel expenses instead of heating bills” seem to be becoming a popular way to spend the winter in Germany. Lyon is a middle school English teacher who, like all students, has a three-week winter break from mid-December. In previous years, the Lyon family would spend the traditional Christmas and New Year at home. This year, the family of four booked their air tickets to southern Italy early. “It is better to spend money to go to the warm south to bask in the sun than to pay for heating at home.” Lyon told reporters half-jokingly. Travel companies such as TUI have also taken advantage of the situation to launch warm and cheap travel plans to Greece, Egypt, Turkey, etc., to cooperate with people who retire and work from home to temporarily avoid the long heating period in Germany.

In addition, the German federal government and major media have popularized tips for saving electricity and gas in a prominent position on their official website. Germany’s new energy-saving regulations stipulate that from September 1, the maximum temperature in public buildings will be lowered from 20 degrees Celsius to 19 degrees Celsius, and transition areas such as corridors, halls or technical rooms can no longer be heated, and private swimming pools are also prohibited. This also just confirms the warning issued by Germany’s energy regulator in July that Germany’s natural gas consumption must be reduced by 20% to ensure a safe winter this year, and controlling its high prices requires the joint efforts of private households and industrial enterprises.

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Open a new channel for “saving gas”

If “saving gas” is a direct and effective way to save money for most Germans, then seeking its substitutes is a niche open source idea.

In addition to electric heaters and electric blankets, there are also firewood for home heating that have been popular online and offline since this summer. As the tradition of wood-burning heating gradually withdraws from the historical stage, only 3.6% of the residential buildings completed in Germany in 2021 will use firewood as the primary heating energy source, while firewood is used more as a supplementary auxiliary heat source. But this year things seem to be different.

Emily’s apartment comes with a fireplace system. “I used it occasionally to add to the atmosphere. I didn’t expect it to be heated this winter. Burning wood can save at least one-third of the cost of using natural gas.” However, There are not a few people who have this idea. Emily found that the firewood that no one cared about in the supermarket before is now hard to find. It can only be bought by driving to the building materials market 20 kilometers away.

According to data released by the German Statistics Office, the price of firewood in August 2022 has already risen by 85.7% compared with the same period last year. On the website of German building materials supermarket toom, the reporter saw that the firewood for home fireplaces has been sold for 239.99 euros / cubic meter, and it was sold out.

In recent years, the German government has provided various subsidies to vigorously support renewable energy projects into residential buildings. Two-thirds (65.5%) of the 118,000 residential buildings approved between January 2021 and November 2021 will be heated primarily with renewable energy.

Maria, who lives in Lütenberg, a small town in northern Germany, completed the construction of her small home last year. The roof of her home of about 150 square meters is covered with solar panels. “It is close to northern Europe, and heating is still needed every year even in May. With this solar heating system, the heating and hot water can be used for free throughout the year. Although additional equipment and installation costs are paid, it is still cost-effective to have government subsidies. ,” Maria told reporters.

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It is understood that the price of solar photovoltaic systems for general households is between 6,000 and 12,000 euros, and the government subsidy for loan interest and installation costs can reach 30%. According to data released by the German Statistics Office, in March 2022 alone, 2.2 million photovoltaic systems were installed in Germany with a total rated output power of 58,400 MW, an increase of 10% over the same period last year.

In addition, a type of green building called “passive house” offers consumers a new direction of choice. The “passive house” uses the outer walls of special materials and the doors and windows with good sealing performance to make the interior “warm in winter and cool in summer”, so that “active” temperature adjustment devices such as heating and air conditioning are basically unnecessary. Compared with traditional low-energy houses, passive houses can save at least about 70% to 80% of energy consumption. Although there are currently only about 10,000 “passive houses” on the German market, their popularity is increasing day by day.

Whether it is throttling or open source, the winter of 2022 is destined to be a must-have question for the German people and their new government to govern. On September 29, German Chancellor Scholz announced at a press conference that the government will invest 200 billion euros to achieve the goal of reducing energy prices. At the same time, in order to ease the payment pressure on households and businesses, the natural gas surcharge originally scheduled to be introduced in October will also be cancelled. However, it remains to be seen whether the promise of “keeping everyone warm through the winter” can be realized as promised. Return to Sohu, see more

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