Bernd Müller* no longer understands the world. He has been renting out for 30 years and naturally knows his apartments better than anyone else. As an electrical and industrial engineer, he also has an idea of technical and economic relationships. Regarding the new Building Energy Act (GEG), he says: “I’m pissed at Habeck because he hasn’t looked at how fossil energy could really be saved.”
Because that’s what the 60-year-old wants. “Only that doesn’t work with electric heating, which is what the heat pump basically is, if there isn’t enough green electricity in the winter months of December, January and February.” location, complains Müller. “Do you actually want to save fossil energy or switch to electricity, whatever the cost?”
Müller, who does not want to read his real name publicly, owns an apartment building in Düsseldorf with twelve parties. Year of construction 1956. Renovated in 1996. So a building that there are thousands of times in one way or another in Germany. All apartments have gas heating. Six apartments each hang from one strand.
Gas heaters are suddenly “just dirt and have to go”
“The gas floor heating has energy level A for hot water and B or C for heating,” explains Müller. You have to see that in combination, which is a very good value. “But if it is now said that these heaters are just dirt and have to go, then that’s bad.”
What actually happens, he asks, if a floor heating system breaks down after 2024? “Do I then have to convert all the heating systems in the house?” One thing is certain: there are six heating systems hanging from a chimney. It is not possible to operate with different warming systems here.
“The crazy thing about the law is that in this case you should first install a new gas heating system for a transitional phase until an electric heating system is available.” But that would almost double the costs. “Because the device doesn’t cost the earth, but the installation and everything else around it does.”
What does Habeck allow?
Müller draws attention to another major problem in this context. “The investment is one thing,” he says. “But at my age I can no longer get loans.”
As a pragmatic person and practitioner, after the new GEG specifications became known, he tried to take a neutral approach to the future situation and see what solutions there could be for his case. So what does Habeck allow? “Basically, that’s district heating and everything that heats with electricity,” says Müller.
And further: “I have to invest around 60,000 euros for district heating, but I have zero advantages. As a landlord, I can’t move it because it’s not an improvement. My tenants have no advantage either. On the contrary: they would probably have to pay more than they currently do with gas.”
Narrowing down to heat pump
But then there is not much else left in Habeck’s world than the heat pump. “In my case, I would need two of these blocks – one for the right line and one for the left line for six apartments each,” says Müller.
Only: “Heat pumps are extremely expensive as soon as they have a flow temperature of over 40 degrees – and the electricity requirement is, by the way, absolutely crazy in winter, quite apart from the fact that the electricity mix is anything but, especially in the dark days from December to February is climate-friendly.”
Müller sums it up: “Basically I have two alternatives: the two heat pumps for a total of 200,000 euros or individual air conditioning systems for each apartment. I can’t afford the two heat pumps because I can’t get a loan of more than 200,000 euros. The times are over.”
Sun and gas not enough for new GEG
He would love to install a balcony power plant for every tenant. But not on the balcony, but on the flat roof of the house. That would be twelve photovoltaic systems, each with three panels. “And I would replace the gas boilers in the apartments with electric hot water boilers. Then I could be over
the photovoltaic generate a large part of the electricity for the boilers and tenant electricity.”
According to Müller, who broke it down and calculated it in a ten-page concept, that would save at least 30 percent in fossil energy. “So this small measure would save more energy than this mammoth action by Habeck.”
But: The regulation of the new GEG, according to which from 2024 every newly installed heating system must be operated with at least 65 percent renewable energy, would not be fulfilled.
Habeck’s lofty dreams not realistic
Müller finds: “Heat pumps and the 65 percent rule are all well and good, but we need more realistic goals.” He believes that 30 percent energy savings for every new heating system without exception, for example for public buildings, is feasible at a manageable cost.
“What use are Habeck’s dreams of 65 percent renewables if the homeowners don’t do anything anymore? The pensioner with a detached house can pay just as little for the 40,000 euros for the heat pump as the private landlord can pay for the 200,000 euros.”
“If I had a 30 percent target, I would switch hot water to solar or photovoltaics. Solar heating is nonsense, because there is no solar power at night and in winter, but you need hot water 365 days a year. This combined with electronic thermostats and a few individual things in the house would quickly save energy, contribute to climate protection and would be affordable.”
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) has meanwhile indicated that the start date of 2024 is not set in stone for him. However, it is rather unlikely that the 65 percent rule will actually change in the parliamentary process. Müller also assumes this.
German power grid suitable for electricity volumes?
“I tend to install air conditioning systems with energy level 4,” says the 60-year-old. “I could use this to proceed apartment by apartment, so I wouldn’t have to do everything at once. I can also combine this with photovoltaics because I can separate hot water boilers from it. The tenants have hot water free of charge, 50 percent free electricity and only have to pay for the electricity that is required for heating via the air conditioning system.”
But there is a catch: “The bottom line is that I have a big problem, namely getting the room temperature right in winter. In principle, it’s just electric heating.” However, Habeck did not correctly calculate the amount of electricity required for his heating transition. Müller doubts that the power grids will withstand the collective switchover. The large amount of electricity is not green either.
And then he addresses what many experts are already pointing out: “Actually, the GEG is destroying the EU solution.” From 2027, European CO2 certificate trading in the heating sector will start. Oil and gas are gradually becoming more expensive as a result.
Great uncertainty triggered by the new GEG
“Normally, every owner would have looked at how things are going with the heating over the next few years, especially with regard to certificate trading,” says Müller. But now the exact opposite is happening. “All energy-related refurbishments have largely been stopped because nobody knows what’s still to come.” Anyone renovating now may have to make improvements again in a few years.
In view of the ever more extensive bureaucratic requirements and investments, the apartment building as a retirement provision is on the brink for him. “You used to have a return of 4.5 percent, today I have a return of one percent. Actually, you should stop renting and that sell housebecause it doesn’t pay off at all. Many do that too. Or apartments and even houses are no longer rented at all.”
Müller’s appeal to Habeck is: “Stop prescribing technology that you don’t understand anything about.” His conclusion: Less is more.
*Name changed by the editors on request
