ᐅ New single-family house construction with a gas heating system, but without solar panels

Hello everyone,

I have already searched on Google, but I couldn’t find a suitable answer for our specific project.

In short: We want to build a single-family house. It will have a gas heating system, but I want to avoid solar panels, heat pumps, or other alternatives (please don’t question the reasoning behind this).

Here are some key details:
- Single-family house, about 153m² (1646 sq ft) of living space on 2 full floors plus a full basement
- 365 mm (14.4 inch) exterior wall, T10 bricks, possibly T9 bricks
- No KfW funding!
- decentralized ventilation system with heat recovery
- wood stove on the ground floor

Of course, I know that the Energy Act (EEnG) requires a certain percentage of energy consumption to come from renewable sources.

My question is: Under the above conditions, is it sufficient to simply choose an eco-friendly gas tariff from the energy supplier, allowing me to avoid installing solar panels, additional insulation, heat pumps, or similar measures? Or is it mandatory to install solar panels on the roof?

Hirsl schrieb:
Hello everyone,

I have already searched on Google, but couldn’t find the right answer for our specific project.

In short: We want to build a single-family house. A gas heating system will be installed, but I want to avoid solar panels, heat pumps, and similar options (please don’t ask about the reasons ).

Here are some key details:
- Single-family house, approx. 153m² (1646 sq ft) living area over 2 full floors plus a full basement
- 36.5 cm (14 inches) exterior wall with T10 bricks, possibly T9 bricks
- no KFW funding!
- decentralized ventilation system with heat recovery
- wood stove on the ground floor

Of course, I know that the Energy Saving Act requires a certain percentage of energy consumption to come from renewable sources.

My question now is: Is it sufficient under the above conditions to simply choose a green gas tariff from the utility provider, allowing me to avoid solar panels, extra insulation, heat pumps, or similar measures, or is a solar installation on the roof absolutely required?

I would be surprised if switching to a so-called green gas tariff actually helps.

The wood stove will likely be considered more as a piece of furniture than something that counts toward your environmental balance.

The ventilation system combined with the insulated brick walls might get you around a 15% reduction. However, something on the roof would probably need to be done as well.

Your structural engineer (consulting engineer) should be able to answer these questions.

What speaks against solar?

Manu1976 schrieb:
What is the downside of solar?

The initial cost is nearly 4000€ (about 4300 USD), a lot of hot water production in summer when we don’t need much, and extra equipment that can break down.
Since there are only two of us, it will probably take many years to pay off.

What could happen if I violate the Energy Saving Act (EEnG)? Assuming it is ever inspected at all...

Hirsl schrieb:
What could "happen" to me if I violate the EEnG? If it is ever even checked at all...

Hmm, I actually thought that a final energy calculation would be done by an expert.
At least, we received a (certified?) energy performance certificate...
And wasn’t something supposed to be included in the building permit / planning permission application as well?

The building permit application has already been submitted to the district office, but I haven’t seen any information about the planned heating system.

However, this could also be because no KFW funding is intended to be used.