Increasing numbers of homeowners in Germany are turning to solar collectors, photovoltaic systems, heat pumps and wood pellet boilers as energy sources. This was revealed in a recent study of residential energy consumption, carried out by RWI Essen and forsa on behalf of the Federal Ministry of the Economy. As always, however, two fossil fuels - natural gas and heating oil - continue to be the leading energy sources.

Some 800,000 solar collectors had already been installed in Germany by the year 2006, meaning that either rooms were heated or hot water was prepared in 4.9% of all residential buildings. Photovoltaic systems used to generate electricity achieved a share of 1.8%, with nearly 300,000 installations. These are some of the results of the world's most comprehensive poll to date on the subject of renewable energy use. In the course of the survey on energy consumption in private homes - carried out by the Rhenish-Westphalian Institute for Economic Research (RWI Essen) and forsa on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology (BMWi) - more than 80,000 households were queried by telephone at the end of 2006. It was found that 2.4% or 400,00 of all residences were equipped with heat pumps and 370,000 or 2.2% had already been fitted with wood pellet furnaces.

Comparison with a similar survey, conducted earlier, showed that the use of renewables had risen significantly in the intervening period. Thus the use of solar collectors in private households had climbed, since the start of 2005, from 4.4 to 4.9% while heat pumps registered a rise of from 2.1 to 2.3%. Photovoltaic systems were able to double their share, from 0.9 to 1.8%, while wood pellet boilers more than quadrupled, from 0.5 to 2.2%.

Most households continue to rely upon heating oil or natural gas

In the course of this study more than 6,500 households in the forsa panel also participated in a further poll (using a set-top box) to determine consumption levels for individual energy carriers such as electrical power, heating oil and natural gas. The results were then extrapolated to cover all households in Germany. It was found that natural gas and heating oil, with shares of 36.7 and 27.9% respectively, still continue to make by far the largest contribution to energy supply in private homes. They hold a clear lead over electricity with its 18.3% share. Among the renewable energies, wood and wood products in the form of pellets, wood chips, briquettes and, above all, firewood dominated the picture. Taken together, they reached an 8.7% share of energy consumption in all German private households.

For further information, please contact:
Dr. Manuel Frondel, Phone:+49 201 8149-204, e-mail
Sabine Weiler (Press Office), Phone: +49 201 8149-213, e-mail

This press release is based on the study entitled "Erhebung des Energieverbrauchs der privaten Haushalte für das Jahr 2005". The final report is available (in German) for download here, a short version in English is available here.