Reverse energy turnaround: Heat consumption of residential buildings is increasing

The heat consumption of residential buildings has increased in Germany for the third year in succession. This is the result of an evaluation by energy service provider Techem.

Adjusted for the influence of the weather, natural gas and heating oil consumption in multi-family dwellings was 1.1 and 1.5 percent higher than in the previous year. Only in the consumption of district heating, the study recorded a minimal decline of 0.3 percent.

Over the past three years, the total increase for natural gas was 5.8 percent, for heating oil 8.5 percent and for district heating 4.9 percent. For its study, Techem uses the consumption values ​​of around 1.5 million apartments in 120,000 apartment buildings and then calculates these values ​​high.

One possible reason for the increase Techem also said: There is apparently a connection between the price level for heating energy and consumption, it said. If prices fall, the consumption will increase with one year delay - and vice versa. Final energy prices fell steadily in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

The development in the building sector is in contradiction to the climate protection goals of the Federal Government. The goal of reducing heating demand by 20 percent between 2008 and 2020 is virtually impossible to achieve, according to the study.

"We urgently need to do something to make buildings more energy efficient and use less heat," said Techem CEO Nicolai Kuss. The goal of a climate-neutral building stock by 2050 can only be achieved with a broad-based digitalization offensive, the increased use of renewable energies and a consistent increase in efficiency along the entire value chain.