The end of the chaos - Bundestag passes Building Energy Act (GEG)
June 19, 2020
Ludwigshafen, 19.06.2020 | The Building Energy Act, or GEG for short, has long been eagerly awaited. The uniform, coordinated set of regulations for the energy requirements for new buildings, existing buildings and the use of renewable energies to supply heating and cooling to buildings is intended to bring together various laws on building energy efficiency and heat use. This will significantly simplify the previously highly complex and difficult to understand landscape of energy-saving legislation for building owners and planners. Drafts of the law have been available since 2017. After endless postponements over legislative periods, the GEG was passed by the Bundestag yesterday.
"This is really good news for building owners, especially in the new build sector. The GEG finally takes into account energy-efficient technologies that can do more and are more economical at the same time."
says Thomas Kübler, Managing Partner of KÜBLER GmbH. With the new law, heating technologies can now also be used without any problems, which are clearly superior not only in terms of energy efficiency but also in terms of ease of use." In addition, there is another welcome effect: "From an overall economic perspective, operators of hall buildings now have many more design options at their disposal to realize energy efficiency in their companies. And at significantly lower investment costs".
For years, affected companies and associations have been fighting for the revision of the EEWärmeG. The criticism of this is that the wording of the law simply overlooked the special physical building conditions of rooms with a ceiling height of over 4 m and therefore focused on hydraulic systems, which are significantly less efficient and suitable here.
"With the GEG, we finally have a regulation that is open to all technologies and no longer excludes highly efficient systems that are tailored to the specific requirements of large-scale heating simply because the designers have worked in an undifferentiated manner."
says KÜBLER. The guiding principle "Efficiency first" is finally gaining in importance. Specifically, when the GEG comes into force, decentrally heated halls (zones) with room heights > 4 m will be exempt from the obligation to use renewable energies to cover heating and cooling energy requirements.
What's next? The draft bill to standardize energy-saving legislation for buildings was adopted by the Bundestag on 18 June 2020 with the votes of the CDU/CSU and SPD based on the recommendation of the Committee for Economic Affairs and Energy. There were no significant changes compared to the draft bill from January 2020. However, the abolition of the PV cap and the opened innovation clause (e.g. for hydrogen) should be highlighted. In the next step, the law must now be sent back to the Bundesrat and signed by the Federal President. After publication in the Federal Law Gazette, the GEG comes into force. EnEV and EEWärmeG will then be history.
Everything you need to know about energy-saving hall heating systems in practice
Saving energy is a big issue - across all sectors. If you want to put an end to inefficient heating systems, our guide is just right for you!
Request a free guide
Interested in our press photos?
Would you like to download all images from the article in the highest quality? Simply click on the button below and enjoy our press photos in the highest resolution!
You might also be interested in
-
Kaiserslautern. Heating and lighting industrial and commercial buildings in a climate-neutral way - that is "excellent", according to the jury of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, which awarded the prestigious innovation prize to KÜBLER GmbH from Ludwigshafen. With this award, the state honours the immediately implementable and economical contribution to decarbonization in industrial heat supply through the FUTURA multi-energy system. KÜBLER GmbH has been developing heating systems for halls for more than three decades, employs 130 people and has built up proven expertise with its own R&D unit. This is already the fourth innovation award in the company's history. -
The traditional Grün-Weiss Mannheim club is one of the largest tennis clubs in Baden. The club has two of its own tennis halls and thus offers continuous training opportunities for the players. However, heating the two halls from 1952/53 and 1972 was increasingly becoming a financial burden for the club. Between 30,000 and 35,000 liters of heating oil per year were consumed [...] -
The new standard heating line for high performance requirements and tight budgets. -
Ludwigshafen, March 2025: KÜBLER cooperates with Richter+Frenzel. The technology leader for climate-friendly hall heating systems and Germany's renowned specialist wholesaler for sanitary, heating and air conditioning/ventilation have agreed to work together. Together, they want to support the trade sector in one of the biggest challenges of the energy transition: The decarbonization of large commercial, sports and industrial halls. Richter+Frenzel is now offering its customers support with [...]
