According to the industry, the run on stoves and pellet heating systems is over for the time being. In terms of climate, that’s not bad. At the same time, however, the demand for fossil heating systems is increasing.
According to industry reports, the demand for pellet heating systems has decreased significantly. “In some cases, the market has collapsed completely,” says Anna Katharina Sievers from the German Energy Wood and Pellet Association and the German Pellet Institute. “As things stand at present, our sales forecast for 2023 will not be achieved.” This assumes around 744,000 pellet boilers and stoves.
The picture is similar for the fairly quickly installed and comparatively cheap stoves. According to experts, they were a “safety anchor” for some consumers during the past heating season, but sales figures have fallen this year.
record suspects Orders of fossil heaters
Consumers are very unsettled because of the Building Energy Act (GEG) – also known as the Heating Act. “The federal government has thus caused oil and gas heating to be booming again this year,” criticizes the managing director of the Pellet Association and the Institute, Martin Bentele.
Hans Weinreuter from the Rhineland-Palatinate consumer advice center also reports that many consumers are primarily concerned with the acquisition costs, but not so much with the overall costs, especially in view of the future increase in CO2 prices.
In fact, heating construction companies and associations in several federal states reported record-breaking orders for fossil heating systems in May. The GEG, which is to be adopted after the summer break, aims to make heating in Germany more climate-friendly by gradually replacing oil and gas heating systems.
drop in demand because of “massive fine dust problem good”
According to industry information, there are almost 700,000 pellet heating systems in Germany. “The exhaust gas values from pellet heating systems are significantly better than those from log wood central heating systems and even more so from wood-burning stoves,” says Weinreuter. Pellets – pressed wood residues from sawmills – are also better than logs because they are a product with a defined quality. The operation of the systems can also be controlled in a much more sensible and controlled manner than manual operation of stoves.
There are around ten to twelve million of them in German households. Of these, around 8.5 million are in operation, reports the first chairman of the Federal Association of Firewood Trade and Firewood Products, Klaus Egly. Only a few people only heat with wood, for the vast majority it is an additional heat source. “If at all, a heating system with a firewood boiler – as a replacement for an existing heating system – is probably only an option in rural areas.”
Before buying a stove, however, it makes sense to ask the municipality whether there could be a conflict with the heating concept that they have to develop. The fact that demand is falling is a good thing in view of the “massive fine dust problem”, emphasizes Weinreuter, who calls for a dust filter obligation for all ovens.
Heating with wood or pellets is important for the energy transition
But with sustainable forest management, the potential for pellets is also limited, says Weinreuter. After all, only as much wood should be removed as will grow back in the same amount of time. The energy expert and consumer adviser warns that pellets of “questionable origin” should certainly not be imported.
Pellets could also support the energy transition, says Rhineland-Palatinate Environment Minister Karin Eder. “This is particularly useful in houses where the installation of a heat pump does not make sense due to a lack of options,” said the Green politician.
From a climate point of view, building with wood is preferable to burning. “As a result, the carbon contained in the wood is bound in the long term and carbon dioxide is thus removed from atmospheric release in the form of a greenhouse gas.”
“For many people, especially in rural areas, heating with wood or pellets plays an important role. It should therefore continue to make a contribution and be counted as 65 percent renewables,” says a federal government resolution before the summer break. However, wood is “a limited raw material that is in urgent demand for other sectors”. Sustainability criteria are “therefore to be met and false incentives to be avoided”.
Associations warn funding cuts
The German Energy Wood and Pellet Association, together with three other associations, is now warning of a cut in state subsidies for wood-based heating systems. There must be reliable funding for investors, according to a recently published statement, which is supported by the German heating industry, the Wood Heat Initiative and the Central Association for Sanitary, Heating and Air Conditioning.
According to the House, Heating and Kitchen Technology Industry Association, around 17 million solid cubic meters of wood are used to generate heat in German households every year. As a rule, crown or trunk wood is used for this, which has grown in poor quality and is therefore not suitable as furniture or construction wood. “Firewood is wood that is a by-product of the necessary thinning of the forest or in the sawmills.” The use as heat energy is therefore sensible.
According to Egly, the prices for wood are about the same as last year. “Due to the well-stocked warehouses, panic sales like last year are not to be expected.” The demand for firewood has returned to a normal level. The firewood price of a cubic meter of dry beech wood is currently on par with gas and around 20 percent below heating oil.