Less than 2% of new heating systems still run on oil or gas
More than 98% of newly installed heating systems in canton Zurich are powered by renewable energy – although exceptions are still allowed. In most cases, heat pumps are installed.
More than 98% of the newly installed heating systems in canton Zurich are powered by renewable energy. Drilling for a geothermal probe heat pump.
Photo: Gaetan Bali (Keystone)
The new energy law in the canton of Zurich is working: more than 98 percent of newly installed heating systems operate without oil or gas. The authorities rarely receive any requests for special permits.
Since 1 September 2022, fossil heating systems in canton Zurich may only be replaced by heating systems using renewable energies. Exceptions are only possible if renewable solutions are not technically feasible in one location or are more than 5 percent more expensive over the entire life cycle than oil or gas heating.
However, these exceptions do not require approval, as the Construction Directorate's assessment, published on Wednesday, showed. 379 applications from ten municipalities were analysed.
In only 1.3 percent of cases, the authorities exceptionally approved heating with oil or gas again. A new gas heater was approved once, an oil heater once, and a combined heat pump and gas heater system three times.
Mainly heat pumps
More than half of older fossil heating systems have been replaced with heat pumps (54.6 percent), followed in order by geothermal heat pumps (32.5 percent), district heating (7.3 percent), wood (2.9 percent) and geothermal heat pumps (1.3 percent).
About two-thirds of the heating systems replaced are smaller systems, such as those in single-family homes. Air-water heat pumps are prevalent, especially in these small systems. The wood is now used in the two large furnaces investigated with an output of over 350 kilowatts.
The study was carried out in the communities of Adliswil, Altikon, Bulach, Denhard, Elsau, Gosau, Kloten, Roschlikon, Thalwil and Aster.
Zurich residents adopted the new energy law in November 2021 with a clear yes of 62.6 percent. There are currently more than 100,000 oil and gas heating systems in the canton.
SDA/LOB
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