German residential developers choose natural gas as heat fuel

Natural gas remains the most popular fuel for German residential developers, show the latest figures from the Federal Statistical Office.

According to the Office report, quoted by Wingas, 103,000 new residential buildings were constructed in Germany in 2013. In 50.6 % of them, natural gas was used as the primary heat source. Following suit by some considerable margin were heat pumps (32.2%), local and district heating (7.1%) and wood (5.0%). Oil and electric heating were rarely used in new buildings (each less than 2%).

The market share of natural gas in new buildings decreased somewhat between 2005 and 2010 but has stabilized at slightly above 50% since 2010. The number of households using a combination of energy sources has continued to grow: the share of newly constructed residential buildings where more than one energy source is used for heat production increased from 33.6% in 2011 to 41.1% in 2013. Last year in 73.6% of households completely or partially relied on renewable energy sources for heating while natural gas often acts as a backup fuel.

Press Release, September 23, 2014; Image: Gazprom