Phasing out oil heating in buildings
About this good practice
Buildings account for approximately 32 % of Finland’s energy consumption. Renovating the building stock is a vital component of Finland’s transition to a carbon-free clean energy system. The long-term target of Finland is to phase out oil heating by 2030 and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the building stock by 90 % between 2020 and 2050. According to the Greenhouse gas emission reduction potential study made by the Regional Council of North Karelia as part of the CLEAN project, energy sector emissions could be reduced by renovations improving energy efficiency of buildings, replacing conventional and fossil heating methods with alternative renewable energy methods, and switching regular electricity to green electricity.
As part of the COVID recovery program, the government of Finland has designated funds for converting residential building heating systems from fossil-based oil heating to energy-efficient heating. Phasing out oil heating in residential buildings is part of Finland’s Recovery and Resilience Plan.
Resources needed
The support provided is 4000 € when converting oil heating to water-air heat pumps, ground heat pumps and district heating (average investment cost being 11 800 €) and 2500 € when converting oil heating to other approved fossil free heating systems (average investment cost being 6600 €).
Evidence of success
In January 2022, 18 484 applicants had applied for funding to phase out oil heating and 37,6 million € had been granted. In North Karelia 190 applicants had received funding of total 737 000 € and 72 % of the applicants had shifted to water-air heat pumps, 13 % to ground heat pumps, 9 % to district heating, 4 % to electricity and 1 % to pellets.
Potential for learning or transfer
As heating accounts for a large scale of the total energy consumption, shifting to renewable energy in heating plays an important part in meeting the EU energy and emission targets. Changing the heating system requires a large investment, which is a challenge especially for low value buildings and low-income households. It is obvious that the EU targets cannot be reached without supporting financially the shift to cleaner energy.
The support for residential buildings is granted by the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment on a first come, first served basis. The requirement is that the building is in regular residential use and that oil heating is replaced by another heating system, which is not based on fossil fuels. The support mechanism has been very popular. In December 2022, the number of applications had reached over 26 000.
Further information
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Good practice owner
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