Heat pumps received two thirds of new residential buildings in 2023
64.6 percent of residential buildings completed last year have a heat pump. Natural gas continues to decline as a heating energy source.
Heat pump on a street in Bremen
(Image: heise online / anw)
New buildings in Germany are increasingly being equipped with heat pumps. 64.6 percent of the 96,800 residential buildings completed in 2023 will use this technology as their primary heat source, according to the Federal Statistical Office. This means that the proportion of new residential buildings with heat pumps increased by 8 percentage points compared to 2022 and has more than doubled in the past ten years. In detached and semi-detached houses, the proportion of new buildings with this technology is 68.9 percent, in multi-family houses 41.1 percent.
In total, 69.3 percent of residential buildings were equipped with heating technology last year, which, like heat pumps, are counted as renewable energies; in the case of heating systems, this also includes wood in pellet heating systems or stoves. Its share as a primary source of heating energy amounted to 3.7 percent. Solar thermal energy accounted for 0.5 percent, biogas/biomethane for 0.3 percent and other biomass for 0.2 percent. In 2014, the total share of new residential buildings with heat from renewable energies was 38.5 percent.
One fifth with natural gas
20.1% of new buildings were equipped with natural gas as the primary heat source in 2023, making it the second most important energy source. Over the past ten years, the proportion of gas heating systems as the primary energy source has more than halved: in 2014, it was still at 50.7%. District heating was the primary source of heating in 8.2% of new residential buildings compared to 7.9% ten years ago. Oil heating systems were still used as the primary heating system in 300 new homes, accounting for 0.3% of new builds, compared to 1.2% in 2014.
The trend is likely to continue towards heat pumps, according to figures from the Federal Statistical Office. 80.7% of the approximately 67,900 residential buildings approved in 2023 will be primarily heated with renewable energy, 76.3% will be heated with heat pumps. Natural gas is planned as the primary heat source in 7.3% of new buildings.
The production of heat pumps in Germany is also following this trend. In 2023, 400,100 such appliances were produced in Germany, compared to 350,900 in 2022. However, around 54,400 heat pumps were produced in Germany in the fourth quarter of 2023, 41.4% fewer than in the previous quarter, when 92,900 heat pumps were produced, and around 50% fewer than in the same quarter of the previous year, when 107,700 heat pumps were produced.
(anw)