The traffic light depends entirely on the heat pump. The Germans, on the other hand, stick to what has already been proven. Oil and gas heating is booming, as reported by the Welt newspaper. What is particularly striking about the data from the industry association BDH is that, after a drop in 2022, sales of gas heating systems increased significantly again last year. With an increase of 32 percent, it reached a record level of 790,500 boilers sold. Sales of oil heating systems even doubled compared to the previous year to 112,500.

Heat pump does not reach sales target

In addition to the rise in fossil fuel-powered heating systems, demand for heat pumps is also increasing. 356,000 units were sold, a sales increase of at least 51 percent. However, heat pump sales figures still lag behind the traffic light coalition's plan of 500,000 units a year. As the newspaper Welt also reports, this year there are already signs of a drop in heat pump sales.

Markus Staudt, CEO of the Federal Association of the German Heating Industry (BDH), doubts that the heat pump will become the standard heating system in Germany in the near future. “We hope that sales this year will be at the level of 2022,” he tells the newspaper. This would be just under half of the increase desired by the traffic light.

In total, the number of heat generators sold has almost doubled compared to the long-term average, to 1.3 million devices. Replacing obsolete boilers already makes an important contribution to climate protection. According to calculations by the Dresden Technical Building Institute for the BDH, just by replacing last year's heating in existing buildings, around three million tons of CO2 can be saved per year.