We can do it - How Glarus is putting an end to oil and gas heating systems

It is the strictest/one of the strictest energy lawsE in Switzerland, to which the people of Glarus said yes at the beginning of September. In future, oil and gas heating systems may neither be replaced nor newly installed in residential buildings. The canton is also to set a good example: Its buildings must be heated with 90 percent renewable energy by 2040. What does that mean? How can this be implemented?

Around 5000 residential buildings in the canton of Glarus are currently still heated using fossil fuels. If the oil or gas heating system is discontinued or has to be replaced because its service life has expired, a renewable system must be installed. The Glarner Landsgemeinde (cantonal parliament) stipulated this in the energy law at the beginning of September. And now?

Jakob Marti notes that there is a great need for information. He heads the Environment, Forests and Energy Department of the Canton of Glarus. "We have received numerous telephone calls since the decision of the regional council from those affected who want to know what they can do now"

The Energy Fund:

In 2010, the Landsgemeinde said yes to the creation of an energy fund. The initial endowment was CHF 9 million. The money was used to promote measures in the energy sector (heating replacement, building renovation).

A new round of financing is now due next year. A proposal is on the table that provides for a guaranteed annual endowment. The Landsgemeinde is due to vote on this in May 2022. The increase in the fund would make it possible to achieve the goal of fossil-free heating in the canton, according to Jakob Marti from the Environment, Forestry and Energy Department of the Canton of Glarus.

Fritz + Caspar Jenny AG, Immosupport is the largest real estate manager in the canton of Glarus. The company manages around 120 apartment buildings with two to 30 residential units. A good fifth of the properties are already heated without fossil fuels. The others will have to convert sooner or later as a result of the Landsgemeinde's decision.

In individual cases, property owners have brought forward the replacement of their heating system after the Landsgemeinde decision and replaced their fossil-fuel heating system with a new fossil-fuel heating system, says Patrick Schindler. However, most of them are waiting, not least because their heating system will not last for another five to ten years.

How these residential buildings are heated in the future depends not least on the location of the property. In Glarus Nord, the focus is certainly on connecting to the district heating network of KVA Linth, where possible, says Schindler.

Where this is not possible, heat pumps or geothermal probes in combination with solar energy and photovoltaics will be examined. Likewise, heat networks are an issue for various properties. Depending on the distance to the boundary and the size of the properties, heat pumps are not an option for technical reasons.

In such cases, an exceptional permit for the continuation of the fossil heating system would have to be granted under certain circumstances. Furthermore, the owners have to take into account that they will have to expect higher costs for the replacement of the heating system in the future.

Fuchs Immobilien AG has a similar opinion. "We have customers who are waiting for clear guidance from the canton," says managing director Mario Fuchs. His company is mainly active in the brokerage of properties. And he notes that in the case of cheaper properties, there may not be enough money to buy a heat pump or a new heating system.

Renewable heat - this is already a big topic at the Linth waste incineration plant in Niederurnen. The decision of the Landsgemeinde is an opportunity for the waste incineration plant, says Managing Director Walter Furgler, but not a "game changer". But: "Our position in the market is improving. People are forced to deal with us."

However, Furgler also says: "We won't be able to connect every property to the district heating network." The network must pay for itself through the price of energy. Connecting a remote individual house is not worthwhile - neither for the house owner nor for KVA. However, each case is assessed individually. "But we are sensing a greater interest in our heat." Property owners want to know whether or when a connection to the district heating network is possible.

The aim is for the law to come into force on 1 July 2022. Before that, however, various points still need to be clarified. For example: How will the canton support these conversions? Will the energy fund have to be increased? What about exemptions from this retrofitting obligation? etc. The corresponding ordinances are being prepared for the attention of the cantonal council and parliament.

Head of the Energy Office Jakob Marti says: "The decision of the Landsgemeinde accelerates a development that would have come anyway." Glarus could serve as a model for others, he says. "It is an opportunity, but also a kind of economic stimulus package for the canton."

The example of Braunwald

How can the car-free resort become fossil-free? Under discussion is the replacement of oil heating systems with pellets in the large hotel businesses. But how do the pellets get to Braunwald? A research project at the University of Applied Sciences in Rapperswil is testing how the pellets could be transported to Braunwald by a kind of pneumatic tube. The test facility was specially built and consists of a pipe around 100 metres long. From the valley to Braunwald there is an altitude difference of 600 metres. Tests should now show whether the tube transport would also work with this height difference. And finally, this would also have to be financially viable for the hotel operators.