Building heating: heat pumps prevail in new buildings

Heat pumps are the prevailing heating technology for new buildings in Germany. More than two thirds (69.4 percent) of the residential buildings completed last year are heated with the systems that gain their heat from the earth or environmental air, as the Federal Statistical Office reports. Compared to the previous year, the proportion increased by 5 percentage points.

In single and two-family houses, the proportion of heat pumps was even higher with 74.1 percent, while the owners of apartment buildings only opted for 45.9 percent. Including other sustainable energy sources such as biogas, biomass or wood pellets, the new residential building was renewable in 73.9 percent.

According to the information, the trend continues. Even if the production and export of heat pumps decreased significantly last year, heat pumps are almost always planned in the newly approved apartments. Here the proportion is 81 percent, including the other renewables, it is almost 85 percent.

Gas plays a smaller role

The once prevailing gas was still used in 15 percent of new buildings in 2024. It was even more than half of the new buildings ten years earlier. Registration was used in 8.5 percent of the new residential buildings, and oil heaters were installed in 230 projects or 0.3 percent.

In terms of building, it looks very different. According to the census on May 15, 2022, almost 54 percent of the residential buildings were heated with gas. A round quarter used oil as a primary energy source and only 10.2 percent used renewable energy sources for heating.