Half of Austria’s companies have already taken action to prepare for a gas emergency and also plan to take further steps in this case, according to a survey and a study by the Complexity Science Hub on behalf of the Economic Chamber (WKÖ). .
Over a fifth of 329 companies, which represent 51 percent of the gas consumption among those surveyed, have already converted their heating system to alternative energy sources, and seven percent have also converted their production facilities to alternative energies.
Study author Anton Pichler said that the probability of a complete gas stop is decreasing every day because the gas storage tanks are constantly being filled. The companies have been reacting to the increased gas prices for a year now and have taken appropriate cost-cutting measures. “The assumption that we need as much gas as always is a fallacy. A lot has happened in the past year, companies react quickly to the price signals,” says Pichler.
According to the survey, a gas failure would lead to a complete loss of production in 27 percent of companies. A third of the companies assume no or only minor losses in their production. Most farms said they could resume production in less than a day (21 percent) or between a day and a week (31 percent).
So far, measures for thermal insulation and temperature reduction have been taken in order to save gas. When asked how quickly the energy source change would be possible, one fifth of the companies surveyed stated that they would be able to reduce their natural gas requirements by at least 75 percent within a year. Twelve percent of the companies, on the other hand, will hardly be able to reduce their gas consumption in the next two years.
Source: Nachrichten
