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A Critical Appraisal of Germany's Thermal Retrofit PolicyWhy is Domestic Heating Fuel Consumption Falling in Germany?

A Critical Appraisal of Germany's Thermal Retrofit Policy: Why is Domestic Heating Fuel... [Heating energy consumption has been falling steadily in Germany since 2000. The most recent reliable figures show it fell from 669 TWh to 550 TWh in the years 2000–2009, a reduction of 119 TWh, or 18%. A number of different factors could be contributing to this: replacement of old dwellings with energy-efficient new builds; thermal retrofits of existing homes; and non-technical factors such as household behavior and demographics. There is now considerable data on numbers of new builds and retrofits and their heating energy consumption, but until now there has been no attempt to analyze this data to disaggregate the contributions of each of these factors to the steady fall in consumption. This chapter attempts such an analysis. We find that there was no net reduction from replacement of old with new dwellings, as the latter outnumber the former by about 2 to 1. Thermal retrofits appear to account for about 14 TWh, or 12% of the reduction. This leaves a residual fall of 105 TWh, or 88% of the total, which appears to be due to non-technical factors such as behavior change and demographics, representing reduced annual expenditure on heating fuel of around €7.35 billion and reduced annual CO2 emissions of 21 million tons. This points to the need for more research, first to confirm these results, and second to investigate what motivates many nonretrofitting householders to save heating fuel.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A Critical Appraisal of Germany's Thermal Retrofit PolicyWhy is Domestic Heating Fuel Consumption Falling in Germany?

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References (10)

Publisher
Springer London
Copyright
© Springer-Verlag London 2013
ISBN
978-1-4471-5366-5
Pages
103 –116
DOI
10.1007/978-1-4471-5367-2_7
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[Heating energy consumption has been falling steadily in Germany since 2000. The most recent reliable figures show it fell from 669 TWh to 550 TWh in the years 2000–2009, a reduction of 119 TWh, or 18%. A number of different factors could be contributing to this: replacement of old dwellings with energy-efficient new builds; thermal retrofits of existing homes; and non-technical factors such as household behavior and demographics. There is now considerable data on numbers of new builds and retrofits and their heating energy consumption, but until now there has been no attempt to analyze this data to disaggregate the contributions of each of these factors to the steady fall in consumption. This chapter attempts such an analysis. We find that there was no net reduction from replacement of old with new dwellings, as the latter outnumber the former by about 2 to 1. Thermal retrofits appear to account for about 14 TWh, or 12% of the reduction. This leaves a residual fall of 105 TWh, or 88% of the total, which appears to be due to non-technical factors such as behavior change and demographics, representing reduced annual expenditure on heating fuel of around €7.35 billion and reduced annual CO2 emissions of 21 million tons. This points to the need for more research, first to confirm these results, and second to investigate what motivates many nonretrofitting householders to save heating fuel.]

Published: Jul 26, 2013

Keywords: Fuel savings; CO 2 emission reduction; Thermal retrofit; Household behavior; Price elasticity

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