Discussion about new wood heating systems: Habeck willing to compromise

05.06.2023, 22:18

Dusseldorf. In the discussion about the planned ban on wood heating in new buildings, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) showed himself willing to compromise. During the consultations in the coalition, one must now try to find a solution on specific points, said Habeck in the evening at the “Ständehaus Treff” of the Rheinische Post publishing group in Düsseldorf.

Especially in southern Germany in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, the topic was the big excitement, said Habeck. It was about companies such as carpentry in rural areas. But the world would not get any worse if these companies then heated with pellets or wood. “There won’t be that many. I would be surprised if the whole of Düsseldorf was heated with wood stoves in 2045, that won’t happen. There will be individual farmsteads, carpentry shops, trades on the outskirts.” Even if the wood can also be used in other processes, these are “issues so solvable that a country does not have to argue about it”.

FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr pushed for more options for heating with wood at the weekend. “Wood chips and pellets are renewable energy sources, and heating with wood must remain permitted, and also in new buildings,” Dürr told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (NOZ).

The draft law for the controversial heating law passed by the federal cabinet provides for a ban on wood heating in new buildings. Wood should only remain an option in existing buildings where other solutions are not feasible or sensible, for example because of monument protection.