Saving energy and money with the right type heating

Climate-active heating with renewable sources of energy is the optimum solution for cold winters – namely economically and ecologically.

klimaaktiv, the climate protection initiative of the Federal Ministry will show you which heating systems are best suited for your house.

The right heating system for your home

In the course of an exchange or of a new construction of a heating system it is worthwhile to think in a future-oriented way. By means of the use of wood, solar energy, and heat pump you will reduce the operating costs of your heating and, by the way, you contribute also to climate change and energy transition.

klimaaktiv offers assistance in the selection of the best heating solutions for your house. In the klimaaktiv evaluation matrix all heating systems with renewable sources of energy are compared to each other depending on the energy consumption of the building.  Depending on the type of building heating with pellets, logs, a solar facility, a heat pump or a combination of these systems is recommended.  

Wood heatings

Pellet heatings offer the same comfort as oil or gas heatings and can reduce the annual fuel costs to half. Logs can score points with even cheaper prices. Apart from a boiler in the heating room also pellets living room equipment and tiled stoves can serve as heatings for the whole house in well-insulated buildings. Here the heat is distributed from the living room via heating water and a buffer store in the whole house.

Heat pumps

Heat pumps work according to the principle of the refrigerator; same technology  - reverse benefit, a refrigerator extracts heat from foodstuffs and emits it via the lamellae on the back side to the room. Heat pumps use the heat from the air, the earth-source or the groundwater for heating or hot water generation. Apart from the ambient heat the heat pump needs additional electrical drive energy.

What is particularly important regarding the heat pump: The better the prerequisites in the building and with the source of heat, the less additional electricity is needed. Heat pumps for room heating are therefore exclusively suited for the operation with low flow temperatures and are used in well-insulated buildings.

Solar plants

Thermal solar plants can be used for hot water generation, for room heating and for heating the swimming pool. By means of thermal solar plants the hot water can be generated from March to October at 100% by the sun. Solar plants for hot water generation and room heating supply in spring and in autumn the house with heat and support in winter the boiler. In the course of this process the solar plant is combined with a puffer store. Depending on the energy demand of the building it can supply 25–40% of the heat needed.

Consider also renovation!

Even existing buildings can be refurbished according to these renewable energy technologies – in the ideal case jointly with an energy-related refurbishment of the building envelope. The improvement of the building envelope and the renewal of the windows offer an enormous savings potential. Moreover a refurbishment increases the applications for heat pumps and solar energy enormously.

And the costs?

As far as the ongoing operating costs are concerned systems with renewable sources of energy perform considerably better than oil and gas heatings on the long run. The mostly higher acquisition costs for a renewable heating system can be cushioned by means of public subsidisation. More information at umweltfoerderung.at and energyagency.at/foerderungen.

You are looking for the cheapest heating system with the lowest emission level for your residential building? With the klimaaktiv heating calculator – which is based on a tool of the energy institute Vorarlberg – you will receive a survey of costs and CO2 emissions as well as an amortisation comparison between the two heating systems of your choice.