Fraction also sticks to wood
SPD wants to continue to allow pellet heating systems
04/22/2023, 11:45 am
The Economics Ministry is attempting not only to ban oil and gas heating, but also heating with biomass as far as possible. But the law still has to go through the Bundestag. After the FDP, the SPD parliamentary group is now also breaking out.
The SPD parliamentary group has spoken out against a ban on wood and pellet heating systems in new buildings. The parliamentary deliberations are only just beginning and “in the upcoming talks we are not ruling out any climate-friendly technologies from the outset,” said parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. Homeowners should also have a variety of heating options available in the future, “including biomass”.
According to the draft law for a reform of the Building Energy Act (GEG), in addition to a ban on the installation of oil and gas heating systems from next year – albeit with many exceptions – it is also planned that biomass heating systems such as wood stoves will no longer be permitted in new buildings in the future. The Federal Ministry of Economics refers in particular to the limited availability of the fuels. They should therefore primarily be used in existing buildings.
This had recently been sharply criticized by the Association of Forest Owners. He argued that wood energy is climate-friendly, affordable and could replace fossil fuels such as oil or gas. Miersch now told the newspaper that the main thing is that 65 percent of the heating, as provided for in the draft law, will be based on renewable energies in the future. The switch to climate-friendly heating technologies must be “affordable for everyone”.
The FDP has also already requested changes to the cabinet’s draft law. Finance Minister Christian Lindner had declared on behalf of the FDP ministers that his ministry approved the draft law “in the knowledge” that the parliamentary groups in the Bundestag would discuss the draft intensively in the parliamentary process and also make “other necessary changes”. Concerns with regard to the financing and feasibility of the measures should be taken into account “in order to burden the citizens as little as possible”.