4 ms·

Are heat pumps economical heating sources in Germany? Power there seems very expensive and natgas cheap. No wonder if there's pushback if you have to do expensi

Are heat pumps economical heating sources in Germany? Power there seems very expensive and natgas cheap. No wonder if there's pushback if you have to do expensive renovation and you don't even end up with lower operational expenses.

kuschku 2y ago
Heatpumps can be powered by natgas as well. Heat pumps are just a compressor and a heating element for a defrost cycle. Gas powered compressors are relatively common, e.g. in camping trailer refrigerators. Also, even with Germany's relatively expensive electricity, heat pumps are economical after 15-20 years, which is good enough.
- Maakuth 2y ago
  While that's technically correct (the best kind of correct!), I doubt a lot of natgas heatpumps are being installed in homes at the moment. I suppose the real economics are going to be better, as you probably need to make gas more expensive by carbon trade or something in order to decarbonise. And electrical power should be very cheap.
MarkCole 2y ago
It really depends on a lot of factors. For example if you have solar, how well insulated your house is, etc. I am currently renovating a house in Germany and had a quote for a heat pump system and a quote for a central gas heating system. The heat pump system was quoted at 66.000€, it would however be reduced by 24.750€ to 41.250€ as the government is currently giving a subsidy for these systems. The Gas system was quoted at around 18.000€. Both of the quotes included removing the old Oil Heating system and disposing of it. The Gas System included the price of connecting to the cities gas supply. I went with the Gas System, as not only the install would be cheaper, the running cost would also be substantially cheaper. Some electricity providers have a seperate tariff for heat pumps that is marginally cheaper. However even then my calculation was that a Heat Pump would only have a comparable running cost if I also invested in a large Solar install on the Roof.

kuschku 2y ago

Heatpumps can be powered by natgas as well. Heat pumps are just a compressor and a heating element for a defrost cycle. Gas powered compressors are relatively common, e.g. in camping trailer refrigerators. Also, even with Germany's relatively expensive electricity, heat pumps are economical after 15-20 years, which is good enough.

Maakuth 2y ago
While that's technically correct (the best kind of correct!), I doubt a lot of natgas heatpumps are being installed in homes at the moment. I suppose the real economics are going to be better, as you probably need to make gas more expensive by carbon trade or something in order to decarbonise. And electrical power should be very cheap.

MarkCole 2y ago

It really depends on a lot of factors. For example if you have solar, how well insulated your house is, etc. I am currently renovating a house in Germany and had a quote for a heat pump system and a quote for a central gas heating system. The heat pump system was quoted at 66.000€, it would however be reduced by 24.750€ to 41.250€ as the government is currently giving a subsidy for these systems. The Gas system was quoted at around 18.000€. Both of the quotes included removing the old Oil Heating system and disposing of it. The Gas System included the price of connecting to the cities gas supply. I went with the Gas System, as not only the install would be cheaper, the running cost would also be substantially cheaper. Some electricity providers have a seperate tariff for heat pumps that is marginally cheaper. However even then my calculation was that a Heat Pump would only have a comparable running cost if I also invested in a large Solar install on the Roof.