Modernization in the boiler room
Sales of gas heating systems reach record high in 2023
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The heat transition is taking shape, albeit more slowly than expected: in 2023, sales of heat pumps will increase by 51 percent. At the same time, people are turning to fossil alternatives such as oil and especially gas. But their installation can also make a contribution to climate protection.
According to a media report, the move away from fossil fuels in the heating sector will take longer than expected. Sales of gas heating systems rose sharply last year – after a decline in 2022 – to a record high of 790,500 boilers sold. This is reported by the “Welt” newspaper, citing the 2023 annual report of the Federal Association of the German Heating Industry (BDH). This is an increase of 32 percent compared to the previous year.
Sales of oil heaters, which are particularly criticized by climate activists, doubled to 112,500 units in 2023. Of the heat pumps, which are particularly promoted politically, 356,000 units were sold, an increase of 51 percent.
Overall, modernization in the boiler room has made significant progress in the past year, the report continues. The number of heat generators sold has almost doubled compared to the long-term average to 1.3 million devices. Simply replacing outdated boilers makes an important contribution to climate protection: According to calculations by the Institute for Technical Building Equipment Dresden on behalf of the BDH, around three million tons of CO2 per year were saved in existing buildings last year just by replacing the heating systems.
According to the Federal Environment Agency, the share of renewable energies in the heating market was recently around 18 percent. More than four fifths of this was accounted for by wood fuel. According to the BDH's new sales figures, however, there has been a decline here: sales of pellet heating systems collapsed by 57 percent to just 28,000 units last year. There were also double-digit percentage declines in wood chip and combination boilers. “The reduction in funding for solid biomass in August 2022 has hit this sector massively,” BDH General Manager Markus Staudt told the newspaper.
