I live in Germany in a new construction apartment. We barely have to turn on our radiators in the winter, the house is so we'll insulated. Downside is condensation, we have to open the windows twice a day to let in fresh air and remove the condensation that has built up.

Crazy how right Richard was seeing this video now about energy independence.

I live in Seattle in a 27 year old house, where we have about 10% more sunshine then Germany. We installed an 8 kilowatt Solar PV system. In the last 3 years we have generated about 66% of our electricity usage. On the conservation side of the equation, we replaced our old furnace with a new heat pump/high efficiency backup gas furnace, old hot water heater with a tankless system, new windows, old light bulbs with LED’s, and added more attic insulation. We had some good local and federal tax incentives, but they are being phased out. Visited Germany a year ago and was very impressed with all of the individual and large scale solar PV systems and large wind turbines. Read they are starting to add battery storage to smooth out their energy generation. Our federal, state and local governments need to be taking a longer term approach to U.S. energy independence.

I am German and what I really missed in this video are the passive houses. We build houses, or upgrade old houses to so called passive houses. They don't need heating at all. The isolation of the houses are that strong, that they get warm with only body heat and the electronic devices used in the houses. Additional solar pannels were placed on the roof, so that the electricity is almost only coming from that. Even -20 degree Celsius are no problem for this kind of houses. The downside is that the Isolation or upgrade is very expensive. The upside of it is, that you never have to bother about heating bills and it is energy efficient.

I am German and I had absolutely no idea this was going on in Germany, I learned something new so thanks for that.

One of the key elements you completely neglected is the fact that German houses use 2 main features to be so efficient. The first is thick concrete or brick walls with up to 12" of closed cell foam cladding on the outside of the house. This provides a ridiculous amount of insulation as well as preventing any air leakage. The second is the thick stone walls buffer temperature so that during the summer they open their windows to let in the cool air to chill the stone, then in the morning you close up all the windows and drop the window shades to stay cool all day without any A/C. Then during the winter, you open your window shades during the day to let in as much sun as possible to warm the place up and at night the window shades act as another thermal layer for the windows. These same principles can be applied to american houses quite easily. In northern areas where they timber frame houses they use polyurethane structural insulated panels up to 6" thick to provide up to R40 level insulation.

I lived in Germany and I was just amazed at how beautiful and how efficient they are we can learn so much from them

@1:10 it is actually chambered CLAY brick construction. More specifically, no mortar is visible, so probably a dryfix system of some sort (polyurethane foam to serve as mortar). Altough on the outside everything looks the same, on every edge and every 4 meters or so special hollow bricks are used, armature is put in and concrete is poured, to form a vertical reinforcement column that is at the same time anchored into lower and upper slab armature. This is not only in Germany, it is a standard EU building code

That was so great! Love that This Old House is on board with renewables and energy efficiency.

I love this show. I have been watching for years. Man, I am getting old, but I am learning a lot thanks to this show

I lived in a small German farming village in Bavaria for 8 years, (1997-2005). It was an older single family house. We had individual radiators in each room with a central fuel oil boiler in the basement that provided the hot water for the heating system and for personal use. It was nice to easily control the heating of each room separately. We had a huge storage tank for fuel oil that cost a small fortune to refill each year. Petroleum is very expensive there. I did see many homes with solar panels, but never saw wood pellets being used.

Keep in mind that the climate in Germany is, on average, much more temperate than it is in much of the United States, so it would make sense that their home energy consumption is half per capita.

Guys, it's a nice video and you are doing a great job explaining what can be done. One thing you are neglecting entirely and which I think is the most important of all, is insulation. I used to live in SC for a long time and I did own a newly built house there. The way most houses are built in the US are simply a joke. First I thought, insulation would be as it was, because my house was in the South, but during my travels through the country, I realised that the 2x4's with the cardboard on the outside, dry wall on the inside and a bit of rock wool in between is also the standard in cold states like Michigan and Minnesota. When we had a power outage in the summer, it took about an hours to have the same climate inside the house than what it was outside. In my high efficiency house in Germany, the temperature inside the house stays about the same in the winter for almost two days, when the heater is out. I think that's where the most potential lies for energy saving in American homes.

It wasn't concrete block construction, it was porotherm. It's like a clinker with isolating pores.

Loved seeing the efficiency of these German homes.

Very nice to see this. At 4:47 I want to add, that it's also very common to use Solar to heat up the main tank, not some additional "shower tanks". Radiators, showers and sinks get their hot water from the same tank (but not from the same pipe system) So it is even possible to shut down the boiler on sunny winter days.

I reckon those solar panels are going to be a pain in the neck after a few years in the weather. Quite happy my 'mechanical room' is a cupboard and I don't have to think about it much.

"This is one of the newer buildings only 120 years old"....

That small scale gas generator was something new for me, when I think about it it should be easy enough to diy one from a gasoline powered car and it could run on biogas easily in a farm, pretty cool!

Wow, I love energy efficiency. I have a great HVAC background, so energy efficiency is a huge part of that. Germany is on level 1000%

Insulation, insulation and more insulation. Then the rest could be done with renewable energy.

The one thing that they don't mention is that Germans (and Europeans) are very conservative when it comes to resources, whether it be water usage, heating etc. From many visits with my relatives its rare that they take really long showers like North Americans do. Despite living in Canada several hours north of the border, I heat my home warmer than most here and in Europe. I did notice in the Netherlands that in many washrooms (both at tourist attractions and private homes) where there is only a toilet (not a full bathroom with bathtub/shower) there is only cold water.

To give some perspective: my three bedroom house has consumed about 3500 kWh last year. I've got a total energy bill of 70€ per month (24€ct per kWh). This is for heating, hot water, and electricity. Triple glazing, 25cm of insulation, heat pump heating system. Standard equipment for any new house in central Europe. Peak room Temperature in a very hot summer (~39/102F for two weeks straight) was about 26C/79F. This is without any AC.

Great to see these kinds of investments of renewable energy and sustainable home heating

I need a german boiler!!!! TOH please send me one asap. Hehehehe. Thanks for a great video. Richard RULES!

Cool stuff... I wanna see a tear-down of that generator shown at 6:30!

We've been leader in clean free home energy in my country for far longer than the German (no disrespect, they are a great people) , so on your next trip to visit Germany , drop in Iceland to know what it really means to be earth friendly. My grand mother has had solar panels on the roof of her 600 years old house for more than 2 decades .

Wunderbare ! Danka.

New houses in Germany have often underfloor heating combined with a heat pump or efficient gas heater. The underfloor heating need just temperature of 30 - 35 degree Celsius warm water to heat the building and often not more than 5kw energy when you have outside -16 degree to heat the hole house on 21 degree. For the heat pump is the Ringgraben Kollektor a cheap and self made energy source. A COP of 5 is normal. (1 kwh electrical producing 5 kwh heating)

I would like to see system diagrams of the buildings discussed in this video.

Love you for this video I am plumber and crazy about to learn new things

Love this old house! I also have been watching German house building. Look into Huf House. They build the house in a building put it on a truck, set it up mostly finished and beautiful on your property. I watch building shows because I am designing my own house. I started to look at older homes as well. Like pounded earth buildings from China. Viking long houses. Half underground homes in Ancient Europe. And American Indian houses from ice age down to this time. I am glad I live now instead of Ancient time. Thanks for the Energy Tour.

I'm of German ancestry, so thank you for this visit to Germany! It's so beautiful. I think the best parts of this energy strategy are the high insulation, the use of geothermal and the ability to flexibly use several sources of energy, depending on price and conditions. Adding wind and solar are nice for when those are available, and the use of super insulated water tanks to store the energy is great. This can be used to store any kind of energy. I think in America the main thing we need to do is to build and retrofit much more insulation. Insulation works with any kind of energy. Another way to store some of the energy might be to pump water up into a cistern or water tower. The pump would work slowly and use any surplus energy when it's available, and then you are storing kinetic energy. To regain some of the energy, you could put a water wheel into the water return, and this could be converted easily to electricity. Gravity as an energy well. Energy independence will help America in many ways. And individual energy independence will help Americans be more resilient during energy price fluctuations, and threats to our supply sources during wartime. It would be nice if we could take our utility rooms with us when we move. I think that is what is so attractive about off-grid tiny homes. Someone should invent a utility room that you could rent to own, and drive it up to a house like a storage truck and just hook up the connections. A room that size would look like a storage shed next to the house. Or it could go into a garage or on a porch slab. I always thought it was ridiculous to use electricity to cool a refrigerator in winter. All we need is a temperature-controlled fan with access to outside air in the cold weather. And every home should have an exercise machine connected to the grid.

the houses and landscaping in Germany also looks awesome!

Where I live in Canada we have lots of oil, natural gas, and coal. I guess we are lucky in that sense. Most homes here are heated by gas too. But we also have a lot of wind and sunshine so I'm starting to see more solar panels and wind generators.

Watching this in Fall of 2022, God Bless them all

This is a nice video of Germany I love some of the buildings and the architecture ,just look at some of the houses they have Very nice ! That mechanical room looked quite interesting as well I believe all the equipment and the storage tanks , the wood pellet burners et cetera were all made by viessmann ?

I laugh when they can't believe how clean the rooms are. News flash. Germans are very clean and take pride in keeping their country clean. You drop a piece of paper on the ground someone will tell you to pick it up.

Amazing,I appreciate multiple use our indigenous energy sources available.

Great video! 👍👍👍 omg i want that mechanical room, or call it a plant room 😎

Ok I keep hearing about the efficiency and savings but nothing about the upfront cost.

Btw: free from nuclear means relying on coal. So they switch from clean energy to not at all clean energy.

Awesome efficiency 💪🏽✅

The red material is not concrete but rather a certain type of modern brick with lots of holes . Look up “Porotonstein” for further information.

What they don't mention is that the key in consuming less energy for heating is insulation. There, the laws are also very strict in germany. And the insulation - in germany in combination with solid stone walls - helps saving energy also during summer.

He might have forgot to mention electricity is 3x more expensive here in Germany :-D

Yes they are. I build a new house and used underground absorber-mats 120 sq meters and a heat pump and underfloor heating. I can heat my house in the dead of winter for less than 60 euros a month using thermo energy. Plus i have 10 cm of insulation.

Watching this in 2023 is very interesting. Very interesting...

Viessmann boilers in every house!!. These mechanical rooms cost 25K+ in equipment alone add solar tubes, radiators, controls, piping and labor. I’m guessing it will go over 70K. We ain’t going to see it in US in 100 years

If you had ever seen what those roof- mounted panels look like after a major hurricane, you'd know why they're not more popular here in Florida.

New york needs this asap

Great video!

Meanwhile here in the us, I'm fighting my hoa for the right to put panels on my roof.

WTF. This is my hometown 😂

Great video Richard. When I was in the US Navy ,I went to their Machinist Mate class "A" school . They taught us about the steam systems on ships from soup to nuts. .... and it's amazing how the steam starts at hi pressure -hi-temp to run the turbines for main propulsion and as that drops off it is used several times more for other functions. I always wondered why small systems ,much like the one in your video couldn't be used in a home or commercial operation. Good to know that this is NOW happening.

I love this episode, don't know why but had to watch it today again. So what companies are using this tech here in the US or North East? How can we find out more about it??

We germans call it "Energiewende" - energy transition. And so many people complain that its a nuisance or impossible. Then I see these two americans callig it "Energy Independence!" xD The classical (american?) approach of making the subject a bit patriotic, and I think in this case it would be a great idea to get people in germany more on board with the Energiewende. Thats something where we could, at least in some cases, learn from the americans I think. Nice video :)

What are the water storage tanks called. 4:10.... I've been trying to find them in the U.S. but I've not been successful so far. Any website would be most helpful. Thanks.

Excellent video.

I lived in Mainz for three years in the 1970s. I had an "on demand" water heater for the kitchen and bath. Worked flawlessly. I now have one in my home here. Works great but I would have rather had an inside installation, rather than putting it in the garage, Still have the wasted cold water running out of the tap before it gets hot.

That's a bit surprising. I live in ND USA and we are basically around the same height (maybe slightly lower) then where Germany is yet solar isn't really popular at all. It's usually considered to be not so feasible because of lack of sunlight for at least 4-6 months out of the year (cause of winter/snow) and we don't get as strong of sunlight. I am curious if Germany also suffers from that of it they are in a different position. I have been wanting to get solar panels etc for a few years now but the other bad part is that in the USA and ND in general we don't get much for subsidies. Interesting tech being used there in the video though.

I have a hard time with that second system. How does burning gas to make heat (and hot water) and electricity compute into high efficiency? And, doesn't something *mechanical* that makes heat (the fast moving piston engine) suffer high wear and tear? What about maintenance and/or replacement cost?

Richard is a badass, a real pro.

Today is 19th of august 2022. This Video is sie years old now. Here in Germany we are preparing for a winter with nearly no electricity and no heating. Our energypolicy did not work. We wanted to much renewable energy and failed.

Anyone in Germany owning a house sooner or later calculates heating/electricity/warm water and takes advantage of governmental support for new equipment. This is absolutely normal, the benefits are huge. Long term costs are reduced drastically, and not only independence of the country as a whole, but individual independence increases drastically. So it would fit for America as well, since independence is a high value there...

I saw a report on their use of bio mass. To meet the government requirements they had to resort to importing sawdust from mills in the US. The energy expended to ship the sawdust exceeds the energy contained in the saw dust.

The upfront cost is only now being realized to be *prohibitive*.

Germany has always been the leader and innovators in most important inventions. Es lebe Dueschland!

A HUGE amount of wood pellets come from wood pallets shipped to Germany from the US that originated from China. Still importing their energy, just from a different source.

Wood pellets and oil still have to be transported. If rather have gas for my hearing which is still delivered through pipes even if the electric grid goes down.

wow, am amaze.

No mention of the after gases from burning those pellets or, why they've chosen radiant heating (we use convectional, moving air) and how it works with the house's Thermal Mass and Insualtion configuration. Also, it looks to me like $50k at least went into the "utility" room. That cost doesn't work for most existing houses.

Most people can't afford a house like this! The home ownership rate in Germany is very low and steadily decreasing. Sure we can boast about having the most energy efficient and modern houses on the planet because our building codes are extremely strict, but building up to that high standard is very expensive. Add some of the worlds highest taxes on top of that and you have a situation where a young family won't be able to buy their own house (or even apartment) unless they pay back a mortgage for the next 30 years. Obviously you also have expensive buildings in the US (especially in and around the bigger cities) but at least you have the option to build inexpensive houses, which we in Germany don't have.

No fuel of their own? Germany is still the largest consumer of coal in Europe, which is mined domestically. With regards to biofuel, Germany torches half of its annual timber harvest, an 18th century phenomenon.

1000 percent correct. i lived their and heat my house for 60 euros a month using energy efficient heat pump and 120 sq. meters of absorber mats in the ground collecting earth heat

30% renewabel for ANY new building? That is just not true! I am German, I just built my own home and have none of these on my roof. It brings you some financial benefits if you have but it is not mandatory. And by the way .... most new constructed buildings have even floor heating rather than radiators. ;-) Welcome to the 21st century.

This seems great as a concept but who pays for all of this? Does the government subsidise the cost of installation or is it up to the Builder to pass the cost onto the buyer?

Excited no nuks soon

Geothermal heatpumps is where it is at. Vaillant also a german brand, makes some killer systems. Efficiency of 5,5 to 1 compared to gas systems.

He also forgot to mention how the Germans can afford this tech. Any one of those mechanical rooms cost more them my house

I wonder who can afford house like that, they have $20 k back up unit that hardly ever gets to be used? And they call that savings?

The next house I build will use a good deal of this technology. I won't mind being connected to the grid to sell back to energy so I could reduce electricity cost for myself and others. This tech MUST be the way of the future plus if there is a major outage or disaster people with this technology will be able to get through without much issue. A win win scenario.

Concrete production is energy-intensive. Lumber is renewable and home can be super-insulated, requiring very little energy to heat, even the people inside and residual heat from appliances and electronics can heat the home.

*VERY MISLEADING VIDEO* Did they mention how much energy cost in Germany?

I wonder why they didn't talk about passive houses.

Looks a little complicated but very efficient 😎

I'm from the UK and that mechanical room is something that doesn't even exist here! We have electrical and gas meters, perhaps a water tank in the attic and maybe somewhere else, a boiler and perhaps a couple small things in the garage. That mechanical room is bigger than my kitchen! lol 3 systems in one home seems a bit of overkill but maybe that is what we will have in the future, it's just Germany is so far ahead.

If you factor in total cost of any form of power generation, whether it's hydro, wind, solar, nuclear or coal, nuclear still has the overall lowest impact on the environment per kilowatt produced. Too bad most are misinformed about nuclear power.

I live in the uk, many days of the year we produce enough renewable power for the hole county. Not just for a short while but for the hole day. Enery from solar tends to be in the hands of house owners, roof solar panels. These willproduse electricity even when overcast. This is due to vast increases in efficentcy in recent years. There will always be need for other power sources then the wind doesnt blow and at night. In Wales there is power station which is hydro electric, which can provide almost instant backup. Their is a utube video showing how this is achieved. What i am saying is there are solutions to problems with renewables.

Fantastisch, wunderbar, ausgezeignet! Wenn wir das nur in amerika hätten!

7.24 only it works in summer

Very interesting information. What company manufactures the gas fired electric generation? Are they available in the U.S.?

I struggle to have much confidence in the "expert" when he refers to the CHP generating "1 kW for every hour that it's on". No, it generates 1 kW continuously while it's on. There is a difference between power and energy and this guy should know that. kWh is the unit for energy and kW is the unit for power.

Here in Baltimore in a 90 y/o row home. We need to replace our water heater and plan on an indirect heater hooked to an oil fired boiler. When we do a bathroom remodel, would it make sense to install solar for our shower hot water?

looks fantastic, but it certainly does not look cheap.

VIESMANN TECH!

brilliant Germans. thanks for sharing

Very impressive. Richard and Kevin did an awesome job explaining how the tech works - and also why the mindset is so different between Germany and USA.

On December 31 , a 17 year old house with solar panels burned down from the attic in our town. Any advice?

Solar energy is free? Do solar panels fall out of the sky in Germany? How can the rest of us get in on this "free" source of energy?