Decarbonizing heating in Germany’s residential and commercial sectors, which accounts for 37.4 per cent of final energy consumption (2021), is crucial if the country is to achieve net zero by 2045. Of around 19 million buildings, 5 million are in the countryside or suburbs heated by oil without alternative options (connected to a network) and almost 10 million are in urban areas heated by gas. Decarbonizing the heating of these buildings is therefore imperative. Space heating and warm water are low temperature heat which can be provided by heat pumps (HP) and by waste heat via district heating. One of the main challenges comes from the fact that heat demand strongly depends on ambient temperature resulting both in steep capacity peaks and in substantial seasonal variations.
This report “Decarbonizing Germany’s heating sector” by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies concludes that with the Climate Protection Act, Germany has stringent legislation to meet net zero by 2045, but its implementation focuses narrowly on renewables and HPs to the detriment of a balanced approach, including the use of CCS as another major avenue to decarbonization. The discussion must be widened to accept a hybrid solution, instead of betting exclusively on special solutions which foreseeably will not meet net zero by 2045.
Access the complete report here
