Oil-And-Gas Heating To Be Eliminated, Starting Next Year
At first, Germans had the impression that the worst had been averted as far as the planned intervention of the Greens on how citizens are to heat their homes beginning next year.
Now it turns out nothing has changed when it comes to oil-and-gas heating systems in Germany. [emphasis, links added]
German homeowners will be forced to quickly switch over from oil-and-gas heating to heat pumps. “It remains the same: from January 1st, 2024, it will no longer be possible to install new oil-and-gas heating systems.”
45 Billion Euros – For Nothing!
Citing a video by Prof. Ganteför, energy expert Professor Fritz Vahrenholt notes the folly of switching over to heat pumps. They too consume electricity that is still largely generated by fossil fuels power plants, thus they will not save any CO2 at all.
Moreover, estimates show the heating system switchover will lead to an additional cost burden for citizens of 45 billion euros over the next five years.
Vahrenholt comments, “This technology should not be imposed on the citizens with the argument that it would contribute to CO2 reduction in the foreseeable future.”
Vahrenholt also sees no cost savings at all being derived from heat pumps, especially as the government moves to create power production shortages: “From where the German government derives a future cost advantage remains a mystery, since it is pursuing a policy of electricity shortage.”
The Last Three Nuclear Plants Will Be Taken Offline On April 15
“After the nuclear power plants are shut down in April 2023, another 10,000 MW of coal-fired power plants are to be taken off the grid in April 2024.
In my book ‘Die große Energiekrise’ (The Great Energy Crisis), I showed that the expansion of wind and solar power in winter will not help us in the event of a blackout,” writes Vahrenholt.
According to Vahrenholt, 277 TWh of natural gas are used in German households for heat generation (2022), but that is to be eliminated as “the federal government plans a major expansion of gas imports on the same scale.”
Hydrogen is also currently four times as expensive as natural gas, notes Vahrenholt, so it is also not an option like German Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Green Party) likes to claim it is.
Overall, Vahrenholt Warns That Germany Is Headed For A “Heat Pump Disaster”
Starting in 2024, no new oil-and-gas heating system installation will be allowed. If your old existing one breaks down, you won’t be allowed to replace it, and thus be forced to install an approved system, like a heat pump.
But because there will be a huge artificially generated demand for a heat pump system, delivery times will be very long as will the waiting time for installation.
Clearly, the current government’s energy policy proposal risks leading to a real collapse of German civil society, should it be made a law.
What would happen after that is open to speculation. Only history can provide clues on what’s possible.
Luckily, democratic elections are held regularly and citizens will have the opportunity to make radical course corrections. That’s the optimistic outlook.
Read more at No Tricks Zone
Personal experience. An 11 year old heat pump at 4,600 feet elevation, southern Arizona, getting ‘heat’ from the air. If there’s any moisture around, or snow, the outside coils start to frost up at 37°F. Ice is a good insulator. Pretty soon the unit goes to ‘resistance heating’. On one occasion I kept track of power usage for the three days it took for the ice to melt. 64kW per day. Not pretty. I’m told that newer models go into a reverse fluid circulation mode to warm the coils and melt the ice.
Now if I could bore a six inch hole in the back yard and strike one of the old mine tunnels, I could have 65° air year round. A heat pump set up to use that air would work just fine. A heat collection system buried below the frost line would seem to be the only way to go. Not cheap, but while the electricity is on it will continue to work.