Ecologically built house with wooden facade - Features

Regarding the recommendations for pellet heating systems here in the thread: Burning wood is nothing other than burning coal. Only the time until the wood regenerates is shorter. However, we are talking about 50 to 100 years until the tree grows back and 300 to 500 years until a natural forest and forest soil can bind the original amounts of CO2 again. Since we only have about 15 years left to become climate-neutral, of course, no more wood heating systems can be installed. The homeowner has therefore done everything right for now.

Regarding the recommendations for pellet heating systems here in the thread: Burning wood is no different than burning coal. Only the time it takes for the wood to regrow is shorter. However, we are talking about 50 to 100 years until the tree grows back and 300 to 500 years until a natural forest and forest soil can bind the original amounts of CO2 again. Since we only have about 15 years left to become climate neutral, of course, no one can install wood heating systems anymore. So the homeowner did everything right in the first place.

Your heat pump is no more climate neutral than a pellet heating system. The emissions are merely shifted to Polish and Czech coal power plants. Feel free to check Agora to see what renewable energy is generated in Germany during winter. If we exclude the storm of the last few days, out of 70 GW around 10-15 GW. It is a commonly told myth in Germany that we can become climate neutral and energy independent by installing a few more wind turbines and solar panels (I have 15 kWp myself). That would only be possible with nuclear power or nuclear fusion. Neither of which exists (anymore) in Germany.

Anyone who really wants to be climate neutral must move into a cave or choose suicide. The heating technology must fit the house, and in many cases, a pellet system often makes much more sense than an electric heating system with a coefficient of performance of 2 in an old building, which in winter runs on coal power. But the main thing is that the conscience is green.

That is unfortunately all wrong. I recommend Graslutscher, Quaschning, and the Fraunhofer Institute as a starting point for reading up. And now back to the house.

Anyone who really wants to be climate neutral must move into a cave or choose to end their life.

why? Modifying a chainsaw so that the little engine runs on ethanol ... lubricating the chain with rapeseed oil ... ... and using an axe and your own muscle power to split the logs!

Unfortunately, that's all wrong. I recommend Graslutscher, Quaschning, and the Fraunhofer Institute as a starting point for reading up. And now back to the house.

I know all that. It can be summarized like this: If there are not enough renewables, the fossil fuels step in. Graslutscher has a great article about it, which primarily deals with the shutdown of the nuclear power plants and looks closely at the chart. That’s exactly what I said. Since dark doldrums in winter aren’t rare, the green heat pump collapses on itself.

Don’t get me wrong: I find the heat pump a fascinating technology and would also like to have one if the environment is right. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for us with a house built in 1983 and 400 m² of space, despite a KFW100EE renovation. The difference to a ground-source heat pump with 4 drillings and a pellet system was more than 20k euros before subsidies. That makes the pellet system as the “smallest climate evil” simply more sensible. A large part of the old building stock in Germany is not readily suitable for an air-water heat pump. Period. Unless you want to pay yourself stupid.

The OP will still be surprised how much electricity the heat pump draws in winter without underfloor or other surface heating, especially if there are maybe women, teenagers, or the like who like to shower or bathe for 30 minutes or more. One possibility would be for the OP to retrofit underfloor heating. There are ready-made elements from Fermacell made of EPS, where you simply lay in the tubing. You can do it yourself with a bit of skill. I would strongly recommend something like that if he can’t talk the seller out of the air-water heat pump swap. If he wants the air-water heat pump, he should urgently assign the contract himself. Then the heating installer can retrofit underfloor heating, smart thermostats, hot water circulation, etc. within the framework of the subsidy.

If there are not enough renewables, the fossil fuels step in.

What could one possibly do... ;-) I don't want to get into nonsense like dark doldrums now, you have supposedly read everything about it and therefore know that it is not a problem. So just briefly: Heat pumps are already unbeatable in terms of CO2 emissions. Far ahead of anything else. And they get better every year. Whereas biomass production in Germany has not been sufficient for many years and we are therefore dependent on imports. So anyone who still installs a fireplace, wood chips or pellets now is directly or indirectly causing forests to be cut down somewhere else. And mostly in countries that do not pay close attention to sustainable practices. It doesn’t help even if you only buy "certified" German goods – overall, that doesn’t change anything. If you then look at how the forests here are dying off and elsewhere are burning, one can consider how well reforestation is currently working.