How to Ruin an Economy: Germany to Ban New Gas and Oil Heaters in Buildings by Next Year

How to Ruin an Economy: Germany to Ban New Gas and Oil Heaters in Buildings by Next Year

KURT ZINDULKA

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The German cabinet has backed legislation that would ban almost all new oil and gas heating systems for buildings by next year, despite widespread opposition from the public and concerns from within the coalition government itself.

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On Wednesday, the climate-change-fighting Germany’s Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck announced , the cabinet of Chancellor Olaf Scholz will back the Building Energy Efficiency Act, which would require all new heating systems run on at least 65 per cent of so-called renewable forms of energy.

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This would effectively ban new gas and oil heaters, which would need to be replaced with heat pumps or hybrid systems that only use fossil fuels as a backup on cold days, when heat pumps would be unable to ECONOMICALLY deliver all the heat needed by a building..

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According to the draft legislation, the plan would cost the German households some 9.16 billion euros ($10 billion) per year, until at least 2028, when the government projects the costs would decrease to 5 billion  euros per year on the expectation of ramped-up production of heat pumps.

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However, heat pumps are already produced by the millions each year, so that decrease likely would not take place.

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Also RE extremist Habeck has been accused of significantly underestimating Germany's transition costs, to promote his agenda and deceive the German people.

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This drastic, unnecessary change comes amid a wider push by the government to transition the German economy to climate neutrality (whatever that means) by the year 2045.

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 According to Reuters, space heating of buildings represents over 40 per cent of the Germany’s natural gas consumption, with nearly half of the 41 million households using natural gas for space heating and 25 per cent using fuel oil.

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The green agenda push is apparently not appreciated by the already-struggling, over-taxed, over-regulated German people, who have been suffering with high inflation and high interest rates, and high food prices, and coping with an energy crisis, largely because Germany agreed, with a nod and a wink, to have the US blow up the Nordstream 1 and 2 pipelines, that delivered plentiful Russian gas at about $6/million Btu for decades.

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The flow of reliable, inexpensive Russian gas was stopped, which former Chancellor Angela Merkel had turned to help the German economy be very competitive on international markets.

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A survey conducted by Forsa found that 78 per cent of Germans are opposed to the heat pump legislation, as opposed to just 18 per cent who are in favor of the bill.

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Over six in ten people told the pollster they believed the move towards renewables would result in their  already-very-high heating bills, and other bills, becoming even more unbearable.

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VKU, the German Association of Local Utilities, criticized the proposed legislation, claiming it did not give enough time to build new power plants and augment distribution grids and augment transmissions grids, saying in a statement: “The deadlines should be extended. Transitional periods are urgently needed".

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The government has promised a subsidy of 30 per cent for residential properties to make the transition and an additional 10 per cent, if the switch is made earlier than required by law.

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Those who are low-income workers or work-shirking idlers, or retired on low income, or receive welfare/disability benefits, about 20% of the population, could receive an extra 20 per cent to lessen the financial impacts. 

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All these poor people will have very high electric bills, due to their heat pumps, because German electricity prices, c/ kWh, are very high.

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The money will be taken from the Climate and Transformation Fund, which currently has some 180 billion euros set aside for green projects over the next three years. Climate Minister Robert Habeck — of the German Green party — said on Wednesday: “The financing is secured.”.

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Where did that money come from? The printing presses? More inflation an top of existing inflation?

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However, the leader of the pro-business Free Democrat Party (FDP) and finance minister in the coalition government, Christian Lindner has reportedly raised concerns about the cost to the public..

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Following the announcement, Lindner wrote on social media: “I expect that the necessary changes will now be made in the parliamentary process (legislators will revise the extremist proposals based on voter inputs), to eliminate concerns about affordability and feasibility (about 500,000 trains technicians will be needed to make all these changes) and to burden people as little as possible.”

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“The push to ban new gas and oil heaters comes just days after Germany closed down its final three remaining nuclear power plants over the weekend following a phaseout process begun under the Merkel government in 2011, after the Fukushima disaster in Japan, which had nothing to do with nuclear plants, but everything to do with a huge TSUNAMI, that drowned 20,000 people.