Number of the month: 70.7 percent

Many private households still heat with oil and gas. These fossil fuels remain important energy sources, especially for older buildings. A press release from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) dated July 21, 2022, reveals that in 2019, almost half of all private households (41.2 percent) used natural gas to meet their residential energy needs.

Gas is also an important energy source for industry. 31.2 percent of demand was covered by natural gas, and 16 percent each by oil and coal. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Germany has been experiencing difficulties with this type of energy supply and heating, as its main supplier, Russia, has reduced gas deliveries via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

Since July 27, 2022, only 1.28 cubic meters of gas per hour have been flowing to Germany. According to the Russian state-owned company Gazprom, this reduced delivery capacity from 40 to 20 percent (as of July 27, 2022). The use of alternative energy sources is therefore becoming increasingly important.

The energy supply situation looks better for new buildings. 70.7 percent of residential properties built in 2021 were heated entirely or partially with renewable energy, according to a press release from the Federal Statistical Office dated June 2, 2022. The number of pellet heating systems also increased, according to statistics from the Statista Research Department (source: Statista.com). From 278,606 wood pellet heating systems in 2012, the number is expected to climb to approximately 648,000 in 2022. Only 34.3 percent of new buildings use gas as their primary energy source.

Notes

For the sake of readability, this text uses the generic masculine form. Female and other gender identities are explicitly included where relevant to the statement.

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