Study on the impending shortage: Gas consumption should fall by 30 percent

Private households still use too much gas. In order to avoid a shortage, consumption would have to drop by at least 30 percent, according to the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. The most important starting point is the heating.

Gas consumption must fall – by at least 30 percent compared to the pre-crisis times. This is the main result of a nationwide study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. The federal government commissioned them.

It is said that if gas is saved on this scale, a gas shortage can be prevented, as can further increases in prices. Private households in particular apparently still heat as usual and, according to the study, are therefore not saving as much as would be necessary. “Industry, on the other hand, is reacting much more sensitively to the high prices: So far, industrial gas use in 2022 has fallen by around 20 percent compared to previous years,” the study says.

Heating not in continuous operation

The scientists are therefore calling on private gas customers in particular to make greater efforts and see the greatest savings potential here in heating: lower the room temperature by one or two degrees, heating only as required and not in continuous operation. In this way, private households can reduce their gas consumption.

“Together with an accelerated start-up of heat pumps, the connection to district and local heating networks and a more energetic renovation of the building stock, a good 30 percent of the gas requirement could be saved in the short term in the building sector,” said Gunnar Luderer, deputy head of the Ariadne project at the Potsdam Institute for climate impact research.

In view of the sharp rise in energy prices, the traffic light coalition wants to relieve gas customers with a price brake. An electricity price brake is also planned. According to media reports, the Federal Ministry of Economics wants to introduce both measures together and design them similarly. For gas and also for electricity, there should be subsidies for basic consumption. The relief can therefore be passed on by the public utility company