German fossil fuel consumption and emissions at record low

Renewables International

Preliminary energy statistics published by AG Energiebilanzen (AGEB) earlier this week show a sharp decline in primary energy consumption for 2014. Total energy use dropped 4.8% compared to 2013 and is projected to decline to 13,095 PJ by the end of the year (see chart above).

However, so far 2014 has been one of the warmest years on record in Germany. This had a significant impact on the consumption of fuels mainly used for space heating in Germany, especially natural gas consumption and heating oil.

In Germany, natural gas is mainly used to heat homes and industrial processes. It thus comes as no surprise that the use of gas declined the most due to the mild weather.

Since 2013 was a rather cold year, the decline looks even more significant in 2014 (see the chart on the right).

The use of petroleum also declined in 2014, which can also be attributed to the weather to some degree, since about 20% of German homes are still heated by oil-fired heating systems.

A reduction in coal burning (lignite & hard coal), however, mainly stems from a decline in electricity demand. Nuclear energy and other energy sources remained almost unchanged.

Renewable energy sources are the only ones that didn’t follow the overall downward trend; theyincreased their contribution slightly.

Carbon emissions fall by about 5%

If the AGEB estimate turns out to be true, this reduction could potentially push German greenhouse gas emissions to a new record low. Even below emissions in 2009, when the global recession slashed energy consumption.

Since many of the emission reductions can be tracked back to the weather, I hope that this new lucky record low will not reduce public and political pressure to improve climate protection measures.

And the final graph is this, showing how fossil fuel production is now at a record low in Germany.

Source: Renewables International. Reproduced with permission.