80 per cent of home owners plan energy upgrades

Munich/Hamburg, 20 June 2023
Energy consumption in private homes is a big issue for many Germans – and not just since energy prices began to soar. The TechnikRadar 2023 reveals how home owners intend to reduce consumption, what energy upgrades they are planning and what they think of Smart Home appliances. The annual representative survey of the population conducted by acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering, Körber-Stiftung and ZIRIUS – Center for Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies at the University of Stuttgart, provides information on Germans’ attitudes to technology. Each survey focuses on a different subject and this year the focus was sustainable building and living.
What does the future of building and living in Germany look like? The German Heating Act (Heizungsgesetz) has been dominating public discourse for weeks now. According to the TechnikRadar 2023, 90 per cent of Germans see potential for saving energy in changing their own behaviours – especially in relation to heating and hot water (32.2 per cent). However, when it comes to the purchase of new appliances, German people believe electricity consumption (40.3 per cent) holds the greatest energy-saving potential, not heating and hot water. People consider buying LED bulbs or an energy-efficient refrigerator as a better option from an energy standpoint than buying a new heating or hot water system.
Issues for the future: safeguarding jobs remains the foremost issue
Since 2018, the TechnikRadar asks German people what their top issues for the future are. Safeguarding jobs is still regarded by respondents as the most important function of society. In fourth place, climate protection remains important but is edged out of second by domestic security and data protection. Limiting the rising cost of living comes in well down the list of issues mentioned in the survey. Only for women and low-income earners is this issue more important than average.
Solar power and Smart Home applications are increasingly popular
Photovoltaics and solar heating are becoming more and more popular since energy prices began to soar. The home owners surveyed also set store by these technologies: 79 per cent intend to upgrade in the near future. Of this cohort, 45.9 per cent plan to install a photovoltaic system and almost one third (31.7 per cent) want to fit their home with solar thermal panels.
There has been an upsurge in Smart Home appliances similar to that in solar energy. Compared with the TechnikRadar 2018, the use of Smart Home technologies by respondents in Germany has more than doubled: in 2018 8.1 per cent said they used such technologies compared with 21 per cent in the latest survey. Notably, the percentage of female users in all age groups has approximately tripled since 2018. Also, around one fifth (19.5 per cent) of otherwise less tech-savvy males over the age of 65 said they use Smart Home appliances.
Smart not only at home but also in the city: what are the views of Germans on the Smart City?
It is envisaged that the use of smart technology will improve urban planning in cities in the future – very much in keeping with the idea of the Smart City – for example, by using digital building data. In the Smart City, “City Dashboards” continuously feed information to residents, companies and local authorities on urban development, energy demand and the use of transport services. More than half of those surveyed (59.2 per cent) for the TechnikRadar 2023 are very willing to share anonymised data about their own energy consumption for this purpose.
Comments about the TechnikRadar 2023:
Cordula Kropp, Scientific Project Manager and sociologist, ZIRIUS – Center for Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Research at the University of Stuttgart:
On the whole, what we are seeing in relation to the research focus “Building and living” is that climate protection, renewable energy, the use of energy-saving appliances as well as upgrade options are important issues for Germans. However, the fact that one in ten sees no potential savings in the areas of electricity consumption, heating/hot water or mobility/travel gives us pause for thought. Obviously, lots of information about technical possibilities is still needed in relation to this, as is plenty of support with renovation and renewable energy transition. Otherwise, the ambitious political target of housing stock sustainability and climate-neutral building operation by 2045 will not be achieved.
Ortwin Renn, TechnikRadar Co-Project Manager and acatech Executive Board member:
As in previous years, the TechnikRadar found that safeguarding jobs is the most important future issue for Germans. What is notable, however, is that despite the uncertainty surrounding energy imports and skyrocketing energy prices, reducing global warming remains an important goal – and this is also true in the area of building and living.
Thomas Paulsen, Member of the Executive Board of Körber-Stiftung:
The TechnikRadar shows that the majority of Germans are open to more sustainability in relation to building and living. What matters now is implementation. Policymakers must use sound judgement, good communication, manageable courses of action and a reliable framework to ensure that the planned upgrades can be carried out and Germany can become a climate-neutral industrialised country.
About the TechnikRadar
The TechnikRadar is an annual representative survey of the German population, developed in line with standards in the social sciences and evaluated using empirical social research methods. It serves as a long-range early-warning system, flagging technological wrong turns in good time and pinpointing special areas where communication is needed. At the same time, the TechnikRadar aims to support processes of innovation so that products and technologies coincide with people’s expectations. The results provide a solid basis for debate about the role of, regulatory requirements for and possibilities for shaping technical innovations.
A selection of the main findings of the TechnikRadar 2023 can be found here: www.acatech.de/technikradar-2023 (in German)