Reducing heating oil consumption and co2 emissions in detached houses
About this good practice
Finland aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035. Switching from fossil oil to more sustainable forms of heating is a concrete way to reduce emissions and achieve the goal of a carbon-neutral Finland by 2035. According to the government programme, the use of fossil oil for heating will be phased out by the early 2030s. The transition to low-carbon heating will be carried out in a controlled and fair way. State aid is available for owners of small houses in year-round residential use to remove the oil heating system and replace it with other forms of heating. The grant is awarded to individuals and estates who own shares in a detached house or in a dwelling in a detached house. It is not necessary for the applicant or the proxies to live in the detached house themselves. To qualify for the grant, the detached house must be used for year-round residential purposes. The grant is not awarded to a leisure dwelling. The grant is awarded throughout the country by the Pirkanmaa Centre for Economic Development, Transport, and the Environment. Stakeholders also include the state, which sets the rules for the subsidy, and Finnish citizens, who can use the subsidy to give up oil heating as a beneficiary. The amount of the grant is always either 2500€ or 4000€. It´s 4 000€ when switching from oil heating to geothermal heat pumps or air-to-water heat pumps. A grant of 2500€ is available if switching to other non-fossil heating alternatives, usually wood fired.
Resources needed
The budget earmarked for the grant is around 103 million€.
Evidence of success
To present, a total of 21 906 applications have been received for the abandonment of oil heating. Of these applications, 12 258 decisions have been positive and 1 201 negative decisions have been taken. There are currently more than 130 000 oil-heated detached houses in use in Finland. The average annual oil consumption is 2 220 l per house, which means that the total annual emissions from detached houses amount to around 750 kilotons of carbon dioxide . Policy has reduced 55 kilotons of Co2.
Potential for learning or transfer
This aid is very specific in that is aimed at oil heated single or double family homes. Its strength is in the simple application process. It serves as a tool to speed up reaching the goal of being less depended on fossil fuels and drives Co2 reduction towards 2035 Finland´s target. Policy will reduce about 150 kilotons of Co2. It motivates homeowners to change to greener options in a faster pace than just waiting for their heating system to be old enough to require replacement. Thus, lowering overall use of oil in Finland. Replacing oil heating has several readily available technologies. It impacts existing privately owned buildings, that usually are the slowest sector to be moved in the green transition. The subsidy is easy to introduce and apply for because it does not require the calculation of a new E-value for the energy use of the dwelling, so the application is simple . It´s easily transferred but substantial funding is required.