Despite all climate protection - Germans use more and more energy in their own four walls.

As the Federal Statistical Office announced on Friday, the upward trend continued until the outbreak of the corona pandemic.

Accordingly, local private households consumed 772 terawatt hours in 2019, an increase of 1.1 percent compared to the previous year.

Compared to 2012, the plus is as much as 10 percent.

The values ​​are adjusted for temperature effects such as different weather conditions in the respective winter months.

Niklas Záboji

Editor in business.

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By far the greatest amount of energy is used for room heating, i.e. heating.

This accounts for more than two thirds of consumption per household on average.

This is followed by hot water, household and electrical appliances as well as cooking and lighting.

Figures for 2020 are not yet available.

However, due to the increased work from home, they are likely to show another significant increase in private energy consumption.

There are a number of reasons for the increase.

One is the trend towards more living space per person.

According to figures from the Federal Environment Agency, an average apartment in Germany measured 91.9 square meters in 2019, around one percent more than in 2012. In addition, more people have immigrated to the Federal Republic than left the country in recent years.

In addition, there are social changes and the increase in single households.

According to the Federal Environment Agency, every German lived in an average of 47 square meters in 2019, an increase of almost 2 percent compared to 2012.

More funding?

All of this is also reflected in the energy balance.

The Federal Statistical Office describes the synergy effects resulting from the coexistence of several people in one household as follows: Whereas a one-person household consumed an average of 12,125 kilowatt hours in 2019, a two-person household consumed "only" 18,817 kilowatt hours and three people 25,492 kilowatt hours.

So the more people share an apartment, the less electricity and heat there is per capita.

But changes in behavior are also noticeable in the numbers, says Fabian Hein from the Agora Energiewende research institute.

The long-standing trend that households consume more hot water continues.

Behind this there is likely to be an increased awareness of hygiene, i.e. more, longer and warmer showers.

The political endeavors to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions are thus thwarted.

"The increasing energy demand for heating shows once again the urgency to accelerate the energetic renovation of buildings and the switch to efficient, climate-neutral heating systems such as the electric heat pump," says Hein.

Only with sufficiently well insulated houses and climate-neutral heating systems can one reduce the energy requirement for heating in the long term.

The Agora researcher is of the opinion that the government must increase the funding for this and adapt building standards to the goal of climate neutrality by 2045.

“There is not as much energy-efficient renovation as is actually needed,” says Lamia Messari-Becker, professor for building technology and building physics at the University of Siegen.

Katja Schumacher, energy economist at the Freiburg Öko-Institut, refers to the low renovation rate. It has been stagnating for years at around 1 percent of apartments, and around 2 percent would be needed to achieve the long-term climate protection goals. She emphasizes that the specific final energy requirement per square meter is falling. However, this positive effect is at least partially offset by the increase in living space per capita, as ever larger living areas are being heated.

Another aspect is the increase in the internal temperature of the living spaces after renovation of the existing and newly constructed buildings, says Schumacher. The effect can occur, for example, if households previously kept their room temperature low in order to save costs and can afford more heating comfort after renovation - economists speak of a rebound effect. This also leads to lower energy savings than expected.