Away from oil heating-this is how it goes with pellets, solar energy and heat pump

The climate protection package makes homeowners responsible. So far, climate protection measures have focused on new projects. A new vacuum cleaner or a new house was subject to strict regulations, but the old stock was largely unaffected.

In the future, homeowners will also be obliged to prioritize energy efficiency and generate as little CO2 as possible. In addition to the insulation of the building, this primarily affects the heating. The owners of older houses will also have to take action here. A quarter of all heaters in Germany are more than 25 years old. Boilers that were installed before January 1, 1991 may no longer be operated once the climate package has come into force. So there is a need for action.

In addition, from January 1, 2026, no new oil heaters may be installed - unless they are combined with alternative heaters. Mathias Klement, Head of Purchasing at Aroundhome, a portal that brings tradesmen and builders together, assumes that the topic of heating modernization will become increasingly important in the coming years. "Sooner or later, homeowners will no longer be able to avoid banning fossil fuels from their boiler room."

The costs of pellets, solar energy and heat pumps as an infographic

In most cases, the entire "heating system" does not have to be replaced. The pipe system and the radiators in the rooms do not have to be renewed unless they are worn out. The law only affects the boiler - or the component that is responsible for generating the heat. In practice, however, it will often be wiser in old systems to replace other parts as well.

Natural gas is also fossil

Due to the extremely high electricity prices, electric heating is not an alternative in Germany. Most sufferers will take the obvious solution and switch to natural gas. The heating costs are hardly more expensive than with oil, at the same time you save the costs and space for storing the oil. But for this to happen, there must be a natural gas pipeline on the road. In addition, a country like Germany is dependent on a smooth supply of gas from abroad. So you just swap the oil sheik for the gas man Putin. In the long term, natural gas will also be targeted by climate policy. Natural gas is slightly more climate-friendly than oil, but in principle gas is also a non-renewable fossil fuel.

Sustainable alternative from the forest - the pellet heating system

A pellet heating system is the modern form of the wood stove. Here, too, wood is burned, only not in the form of logs, but in the form of small pellets. This has several advantages: The system is automatically fed with the pellets. They are considered to be particularly sustainable because they are made from waste from the timber industry, so no trees have to be felled. In the long term, the heating works climate-neutral, since the wood grows back. In addition, pellets are currently cheaper than natural gas and oil in terms of energy content. Little energy is used in the production. But there are also disadvantages: A pellet heating system requires a relatively large amount of space, the pellets have to be stored and there must be room for a buffer tank. If there was an oil tank in the basement before, it will also be possible to accommodate a pellet heating system. Compared to natural gas or district heating, however, the space requirement is very high. A pellet heating system therefore usually only makes sense if there is either an enormous amount of space or the house has a basement. There must be a suitable chimney next to the basement. A pellet heating system does not lead to the high level of fine dust pollution that occurs when wood is burned in a stove or fireplace.

Heating with the power of the sun – solar thermal heating

It couldn't be more sustainable: Simply heat with solar power, without exhaust fumes, chimney sweeps and dirt in the house. That sounds almost too good to be true. And indeed there are several disadvantages. Not every house is suitable for equipping with collectors. Unlike in a new low-energy house, the solar heating alone will probably not be enough to keep it warm in an existing building, as there are not enough hours of sunshine in winter. This shortcoming can be compensated for with a seasonal storage tank, but this is not cheap and also requires a lot of space.

Solar heating can greatly reduce the consumption of oil or gas. The solar thermal system requires around 15 square meters of roof space to generate 4500 to 7500 kWh. Mathias Klement: “In principle, the solar thermal system is a good additional alternative to conventional heating systems, as oil or gas consumption is significantly reduced. For smaller single-family homes, it makes more sense to install a photovoltaic system to generate electricity and use it to operate an electric heater." On the other hand, there are the fundamental disadvantages of operating two systems. You have to pay for maintenance, service and the space required for both systems in one Calculate house.

Heating from outside - the heat pump

The heat pump uses the energy difference between inside and outside. It therefore has the same charm as heating with solar energy. It is a clean, free and infinitely available heat source for heating and hot water. There are various methods of extracting thermal energy from the environment. But the collected heat is always given off to a cooling liquid, which evaporates and condenses. This is how the heat output is generated, which is fed into the heating circuit.

The operation requires little maintenance - there are also no costs for the chimney sweep. But there is also a massive disadvantage: The house must be very well insulated so that the system can heat the house. Mathias Klement: "Heat pumps are only really effective if the house is well insulated all around. We also recommend installing a combination storage tank for fresh and service water."

In the case of an old building, this usually means: This heating cannot be implemented as a single measure, it will only make sense as part of a comprehensive energy-related refurbishment. There is another small disadvantage: the domestic water does not get particularly hot.

What is really being done?

How the individual citizen will ultimately react is difficult to predict. If the government has its way, all old buildings should be consistently insulated and equipped with CO2-friendly heating systems. However, seniors who own older houses will often try to postpone the necessary measures. Anyone who wants to become active is well advised to have cost estimates made for the complete upgrading of their house and not just for the heating. So he knows what costs he will have to pay for heating, insulation and other necessary repairs.

It can happen that he decides to do as little as possible. In bad locations or in regions that suffer from migration, as well as with an unattractive building structure, one can come to the conclusion that renovation is pointless. And use the house as long as possible, in order to demolish it completely at some point. The magical date January 1, 2026 should not be overestimated either. It can also be deduced from this that it is sufficient to have the old oil burner replaced cheaply at the end of 2025 - the device will then continue to work for another 20 years.

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