Rötzer Ziegel Element House – Heating types in comparison: Which heating system is suitable for my new house?

Anyone who designs their own home must choose one even after a comparison Type of heating decide. Today there are several ways to keep your four walls cozy and warm and the water always at a good temperature. Which heating system is ultimately the right one depends on many different factors. These include, for example, the Acquisition and operating costs, space requirements, local conditions, energy efficiency, environmental balance or eligibility for financing. With the Energy Saving Ordinance (EnEV) introduced in 2009, all new buildings must meet the energy-efficient construction standard from 2021. So if you want to build a house for the future today, you should also take this as a guide.

We report one below Overview of possible heating systems and comparison of different types of heating.

Conventional Types of heating compared

Systems using fossil fuels represent conventional heating systems. These include, among other things, the widespread gas and oil heating systems.

Gas heating

The gas stove is the right one type of heating most commonly used in Germany. It is usually connected to a central gas network and serves as central heating or as heating in individual rooms. Depending on the model, it can be installed relatively space-saving In addition to heating the rooms, it also takes care of the preparation of hot water. Special models that also exploit the residual heat of the combustion gases allow a standard use of 100%. This makes it highly energy efficient.

However, gas stoves require one regular inspection by a specialistalthough they are relatively cheap to install. Furthermore, gas – similar to oil – a finite fossil fuelwhich is not sufficiently available in Germany. Therefore, its price trend will certainly increase steadily in the coming years. If you do not have the possibility to connect your gas stove to the network of an energy supplier, you will need oil, just like with oil large tanks for storage.

Oil heating

Oil heating is also a very common type of heating, but now it is taking a back seat in new buildings. Oil heaters are usually installed as central heating and provide the house with heat and water. Unlike gas, homeowners must use oil heating Always store fuel indoors. This results in a large space requirement. However, the energy efficiency of a modern oil heater is very high, the purchase costs are relatively low and the system is proven.

If finished fossil fuelwhich due to the growing demand on the global market is becoming more and more expensive, the classic oil heating system is probably becoming obsolete. It is usually only installed where gas or district heating supply is not possible and the high purchase costs of pellet heating are not worth it. Classic oil heating systems can be combined with solar or photovoltaic systems.

Renewable energy

As part of the environmental balance, more and more people decide to heat their homes with the help of renewable or renewable energy sources.

Pelletheizung

In pellet heating, energy is also released by burning an energy source, in this case wood. However, this energy source is not limited like fossil fuels, but it grows back and is therefore available in the long term. In the popular pellet heating system, wood waste from the woodworking industry is pressed into so-called pellets, which are then burned in the heating system. Builders can use pellet heating Can be used as central heating with hot water production or as decentralized heating in individual rooms. With a low CO2 emissions (which is as big as if the wood were to rot) the pellet heating system is very climate friendly. Provided that the pellets are not transported over long distances.

However, the high purchase and maintenance price as well as the enormous space required for storing wood pellets are aspects that prevent some home builders from purchasing a pellet heating system. Furthermore, it is not possible to predict how the currently relatively low price of wood pellets will develop in the future. Even though wood is a renewable raw material, it is still subject to market prices, which could increase in the future with constant demand.

Solar system

Solar thermal energy is what we mean Conversion of solar energy into heat. In Germany solar energy is mainly used to produce hot water, as sunshine hours in Central Europe easily cover 50 to 65% of the annual hot water requirement. In principle it is also possible to heat with solar systems, but this requires a much larger collector surface than domestic hot water heating.

The operation of solar systems is very simple: the sun heats a carrier fluid in the solar collectors, which is then transported into the house via pipes and heats the domestic water or heating water. Connecting the phases without sunlight is possible Hot water tank (the so-called buffer storage) which keeps the water hot for several hours even in the absence of solar thermal energy. In addition to the high purchase costs, which are still partially subsidized, a solar system is necessary it requires little maintenance and, if cared for properly, rarely involves subsequent costs.

Solar systems – just like photovoltaic systems (converting solar energy into electricity) – can also serve as a supplement or support to other heating technologies.

Decentralized heating systems

In addition to the local heating systems presented in the house, there are two other heating variants that can also be called decentralized systems and which depend on certain infrastructure depending on the location.

Heat pump

Heat pumps are systems that extract energy stored in water, land or air and release it into the environment through a conductive medium. Depending on the type of pump, it works in different ways, but it is always based on one principle: Compression increases the energy yield, which is used to heat the water.

Owners should carefully check in advance whether it is worth using a heat pump for their home. Builders should construct well-insulated buildings Pay close attention to the annual performance factor indicated. This number takes into account all operational states of the plant during the entire thermal year, including all temperature fluctuations. It should not be less than 4.0. In practice, however, the annual performance factor usually does not even reach 3.0, especially if the heat source is outside air. In principle the following applies: the higher the better! Because it indicates the minimum multiple that the heat pump delivers with the energy used. This allows you to quickly determine whether a heat pump would save you on energy costs. Annual performance is higher for heat pumps using groundwater or geothermal energy, but investment costs are significantly higher. To what extent the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA) supports the installation of efficient heat pumps for the combined production of hot water and heating of existing residential buildings can be found on its website.

The amount of money you save with this type of heating depends entirely on the model you choose and energy prices. Ideally, with a geothermal heat pump system it can be up to 50%. Investment costs usually pay for themselves after around ten years.

District heating

District heating provides buildings with thermal energy (heat and hot water) that is not generated directly at home. To do this, the energy supplier needs an existing district heating network that feeds power plants or collection points. With the help of pipes, the hot water is piped from the producer directly into homes or is kept in storage until used. Thanks to the principle of cogeneration of heat and electricity, 84% of district heating is now generated as a by-product of electricity production, which leads to a positive energy balance for district heating.

The big disadvantage of district heating, however, is that… it is only available in metropolitan areas. You also have no influence on which power plant produces the district heating for your home. If it is a biomass-fired power plant, the environmental balance is certainly much better than if the heat was generated by burning coal.