The German federal government's new climate protection plan is anything but economical, and it's not even healthy, a recent study shows.

The German federal government continues to work on a draft for phasing out oil and gas heating. Green Party Economy Minister Robert Habeck is pushing for heat pumps to be installed in newly-built homes and, in the case of all other households, to replace the old gas and oil heating systems.

Kai Warnecke, head of the Haus & Grund housing association, described the idea as a „law from a green fairy tale”. In reality, the government’s project may fail, as shown by the findings of a recent study conducted by the Research Institute for Thermal Insulation (FIW Munich) and the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IFEU).

Only less than half of the residential buildings in Germany are suitable for the efficient operation of heat pumps. The devices can be installed in these buildings, but the residents will be worse off financially than with their current systems.

The efficiency of an air-source heat pump installed in an old building with energy class „H” is 36 per cent lower than the performance of a heat pump in a building with class „A++” certification. This has significant financial implications:

the annual costs of gas heating for an uninsulated house with energy class „H” amounted to approximately 4,520 euros, the study found. Tenants, however, would have to spend 33 per cent more, about 5900 euros on the operation of the alternative heating method.

„The careless installation of heat pumps in unsuitable buildings will not simply entail high operating costs, but it will also overload the power grid and thus the environment,” said FIW institute director and study leader Andreas Holm. „The worse a building is insulated, the more difficult and uneconomical it is to install a heat pump,” says Peter Mellwig of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IFEU).

Besides all this, there is one additional aspect that’s apparently driving the green branch of the federal government crazy: the gases in alternative heating systems have been found to be highly toxic.

The refrigerants used almost always contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). These artificial gases are considered carcinogenic and are also non-degradable. If a leak occurs, it is extremely dangerous for the residents who use it to heat their homes.

This is why the EU is planning a ban on such gases. According to T-Online , consumer protection advocates have recommended to many homeowners to replace their new heat pumps, or at least to convert them to ones that use natural refrigerants. This, however, is not easy, or outright impossible with many heat pump types.