More than half of all homes heated with gas

Energy - More than half of all homes heated with gas

In Hessen, by the Census recording date in mid-May 2022, more than 58 percent of the 3.13 million dwellings were heated with gas. Nearly a quarter of the dwellings used heating oil as the primary energy source, as stated by the Statistical Office in Wiesbaden on Friday. Following were district heating (8.1 percent), wood or wood pellets (3.3 percent), electricity (2.7 percent), and solar or geothermal energy, as well as heat pumps (together 2.3 percent). The Census determines every ten years how many people live in Germany, how they live and work.

According to statisticians, there are regional differences in energy sources. For instance, only about 26 percent of the dwellings in Vogelsbergkreis used gas for heating at the Census recording date, while it was approximately 31 percent in Odenwaldkreis. In comparison, significantly more dwellings in these districts were heated with heating oil instead. For example, in Vogelsbergkreis, over half of the dwellings were heated with heating oil. Solar or geothermal energy, as well as heat pumps, were used more frequently than average in the Landkreis Fulda (4.7 percent) and Landkreis Bergstraße (4.1 percent).

The statistics also show an increasing share of renewable energies in new-build dwellings. Renewable energy sources were used in more than 21 percent of the dwellings built after 2016, while solar or geothermal energy and heat pumps were installed in only 0.8 percent of dwellings with construction years 1990 to 1999 for heating purposes.

Press Release, Statistical Office

1. To meet the deadline for submitting energy efficiency reports, the local council in Wiesbaden is exploring the potential of installing more solar panels and heat pumps in older dwellings to reduce reliance on gas and heating oil.
2. Despite the fact that gas is the primary energy source for heating in Hesse, there are regions like Vogelsbergkreis where over half of the dwellings rely on heating oil due to its lower initial investment costs, as per the recent statistics from the Statistical Office in Wiesbaden.
3. To encourage the use of renewable energy sources in living spaces and in line with Hesse's energy transition goals, the state government has announced that all new-build dwellings in Wiesbaden will have to comply with updated electricity infrastructure requirements by 2030.

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