So Vaud has finally decided to ban electric heating. Electric heating is quite common in our area as it was imposed in new builds in the 70s and 80s and there was a lof of construction and renovation of old houses in our village at that time. We have in-floor electric heating, as do many of our friends and acquaintances. We've been in our place for a long time and have been very pleased with our heating system. Our heating bill varies according to the winter weather, but we pay on average 140CHF/month for all electricity usage for our 140m2 apartment, which we find quite reasonnable. The system heats comfortably and we never have any issues (contrary to our friends on mazout, or even worse, the CAD, as I've detailed in a response to someone else's post).
We've of course known for some time that this was a possibility. Some of our friends have already installed solar panels or pellet stoves, which I'm glad we didn't do as complementing with another heating system is not an option. We'd also put off replacing our tile floors until we'd decided what to do about the heating.
Anyone else in this boat? Have any other cantons followed suit, or are planning to? What are your plans? We have 10 years and will wait it out a bit to see how the situation evolves, happy that we renewed our mortgage in January at 1% for 10 years.
As an aside, I find the variability in energy-related decisions being taken in different jursdictions quite fascinating. We lived in Montreal before moving to Switzerland, and the city has since imposed a wood-burning ban for air quality reasons. Meanwhile, in Switzerland nearly every home has a fireplace, and the chauffages à distance spew out thick columns of smoke all winter in many villages. I also have family in the Netherlands, where pumping natural gas has caused the nothern part of the coutnry to sink. As a result, heating with natural gas is being phased out.
Don't confuse the two. Electric heat pumps are not banned in Vaud, only direct heating with electricity (electric storage radiators and the like). Heat pumps are by far the most efficient source of heating (assuming you don't live in a passive house and don't ecen need heating) and are strongly promoted.
Wasn't confusing the two and the comment about NL wasn't directly related to the situation in Vaud. As indicated, it was an aside and meant to be a general comment on local factors influencing energy norms and decisions that then vary widely from one jurisdiction to another.
Do you have a electrician boiler feeding an underfloor heating system, or electric elements in the floor itself.
I expect it’s the former, which is what we have. We replaced our electric boiler with a geothermal heat pump. Vaud gave us an approximate 10% subsidy. It reduced our annual electricity bill by over half.
Nope, electric elements in the floor. Far more complicated. We are in a PPE and some neighbours have already fully renovated their places. We already did the windows but waited it out on larger renovations (despite desperately wanting to get rid of the tile floors) as we suspected that the heating system would have to go at some point.
It’s an idiotic decision by Vaud they really have no idea. Heat pumps work more cheaply but still use electricity. They are also pretty crap unless you have top level insulation and underfloor heating. So if you don’t, your looking at a heat pump. Plus new underfloor heating and new floors for your house. Plus an insulation wrapper round the outside. 100 to 150k probably. To save a thousand of electricity every year. 150 year payback.
And of course electric is the future. We have solar. And we’ll get more solar in the future. Our cars are electric. The cooking is electric.
And no mention of oil or gas decomm which is worse for the environment.
Agree 100%. We've known for a long time this was a risk, but didn't think they would go through with it, it makes little sense. We hear that heat pumps break down a lot and have no desire to get one. We'd hoped to be able to complement with solar panels and/or a more effective wood-burning option (we currently have an open fireplace that we use only for ambience). But as I said in previous posts, we held off on big renovations until we knew for sure. We were going to replace the floors anyway. Many of our neighbours have already done the floors and replaced the fireplace, and are in an even worse spot. We'll see what exceptions the canton allows and go from there. Lots of people in this boat and there's no easy fix. We weren't planning on moving anytime soon anyway.
Also worth noting that a lot of these electric heating systems were imposed on homeowners by the government during the fuel crisis in the 70s and early 80s. Now 50 years later they are imposing the opposite at homeowner's expense.
If you read between the lines there are a lot of holes in this decision. For a start with solar panels it appears this will be sufficient to give a dispensation to electric heating.
It's one of those pieces of legislation to keep some people happy (Greens etc) yet not pissing of the rest of the population so by saying it will be forbidden is one thing, but as always, the the devil is in the details;: there are plenty plenty of exceptions and work arounds.
The real problem is when these electric radiators need replacing and nobody makes or supply's them any longer, thus forcing a change of system.
But hey ho, that's a long while down the road yet, probably well past the cemetery turn-off
I'm happy for you. We've received very different feedback from many other people. I think the point is that it might work well in certain circumstances but not all, so there's no point forcing it on people.
How about talking to some experts and getting beyond ‘we hear’. Our little street with 5 heat pump installations up to 21 years old all have no significant breakdowns.