Shift to decentral heating needed to make Germany鈥檚 buildings climate neutral - industry
威力彩玩法
Government measures to create a climate-neutral building stock by 2050 are insufficient, the German Housing Association (GdW) and the CDU Economic Council (CDU Wirtschaftsrat)听聽in a joint 鈥淭en-Point Plan for a Socially Compatible Energy Policy in the Buildings Sector.鈥� In the plan, they demand a paradigm shift from energy refurbishments and home insulation 鈥� which are often expensive for tenants 鈥� towards a decentralised, low CO2聽building technology. This would require additional investments of 25 billion euros annually in the residential building sector, the authors say. To achieve this, income from the CO2聽price on heating fuels should be re-invested into the sector to the advantage of tenants, and all investment subsidies for building improvements should be conditional on their effect on greenhouse gas emissions of the house, they suggest.
Energy minister Peter Altmaier聽announced on Monday聽that six billion euros would be used in 2021 to incentivise the modernisation of homes and heating systems and that an increase in interest in funding such refurbishments meant doubling CO2聽savings to 14 million tonnes by 2030.
But Green Party MP and energy efficiency expert Julia Verlinden criticised that too much of this money was used to fund the switch to climate damaging gas-fired boilers. 鈥淲e call on minister Altmaier to concentrate all subsidies on low-consumption and renewables-heated buildings,鈥� she wrote in a press release. Renewable energy lobby group BEE commented that 鈥渉eat pumps, solar thermal energy [鈥 are technically mature and widely available鈥� and their installation now has to become mandatory when buildings are modernised.
Germany鈥檚 buildings and heating sectors are responsible for around one-third of the country鈥檚 greenhouse gas emissions. Energy use for heating and hot water in buildings has been stagnating in recent years. According to Germany's Climate Action Law, the entire buildings sector may only emit a maximum of 72 million tonnes of CO2 per year in 2030 - in 2018 emissions amounted to .
