The employees of Lausitz Energie Bergbau AG (LEAG) can probably not hope for company holidays this year.

The long break, which was almost always part of LEAG in the summer, is probably not possible.

What the company produces is simply far too popular at the moment.

And it's not about chips, not about bicycles and not about heat pumps - here they refine lignite briquettes.

Anna Lena Niemann

Editor in the “Technology and Engine” department.

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"There is a big run," reports press spokesman Thoralf Schirmer.

It's not over for a long time, even if the country is slowly heading towards summer.

As early as autumn, at the beginning of the heating season, the Black Pump location in Lusatia had to work to the limit of capacity in order to be able to meet the demand from private individuals, hardware stores and fuel dealers.

"It's a question of stockpiling," Schirmer explains.

"In view of the high gas and oil prices, people are thinking about how they can stock up on fuels that are cheaper and less dependent on imports." A look at the websites of the large hardware store chains, of which currently no one can offer their customers the usual 25 kg package or a pallet.

High calorific value meets high emissions

In view of price increases of 100 percent for the gas in the thermal baths, one or the other may rediscover the love for his old coal stove, which until recently came along so yesterday.

The stoves can still be found in many garages, workshops and old kitchens, or they sometimes work as so-called slow-burning stoves for central heating.

Lignite briquettes have a very good calorific value, each kilogram contains an average of 5.6 kilowatt hours of energy.

Anyone who can actually get hold of a package in the hardware store or has made provisions in good time can heat up their rooms for a fairly cheap 3.9 cents per kilowatt hour.

The coal stoves, for which airflow from below is important so that the coal burns optimally, are also comparatively cheap to buy at a few hundred euros.

However, because coal will also be subject to CO2 pricing from 2023, the pleasure of saving should not last much longer.

And if you not only keep an eye on money, but also on your own emissions, you should avoid the fuel anyway, as it releases far more carbon dioxide than gas or even oil.

The wood briquette, which LEAG also has on offer, is more environmentally friendly.

Or the classic log that crackles in the fireplace.

In terms of calorific value, it cannot keep up with oil (10 kWh/l) and gas (10.28 kWh/m3), even if it is well dried.

You can still save some money with wood at the moment.

The Technology and Promotion Center (TFZ) is a research institution of the Free State of Bavaria.

It has been collating log wood prices throughout Germany for many years and provides a bit of orientation in a market with large regional differences.

Basically, hardwoods such as beech are more expensive than softwoods such as spruce.

A cubic meter of beech logs, already split and dried, currently costs an average of 109.06 euros, while spruce costs 82.75 euros.

It is still financially worthwhile to rely on hardwood because the calorific value is significantly higher.

Calculated per kilowatt hour, the TFZ shows 7.09 cents for beech.

For spruce logs, the sum is slightly higher at 7.29 cents.

But buying from a timber dealer is also becoming more expensive, and some only supply existing customers anyway, as the institute reports.