By Joseph Forster
The heat transition is a done deal. But can it be implemented at all?
Decisive for this: craftsmen in the climate-relevant professions. In other words, specialists who replace heating systems, insulate facades, install windows and much more. Among other things, the draft law stipulates that from 2024 only heating systems that are operated with 65 percent renewable energy may be installed.
This means that craftsmen will have a lot of work to do in the future. Also because of the EU renovation obligation. The problem: For years, the industry has been suffering from a shortage of skilled workers.
The Central Association of German Crafts (ZDH) estimated the vacancies in the trades for BILD. The result: thousands upon thousands of positions are already vacant!
There are currently almost 85,000 vacancies in the ten climate trades alone, where there is the greatest shortage of staff!
Crafts Association President Dittrich raises the alarm at BILD: “The energy and heat transition will only succeed with sufficiently qualified skilled workers in the trades.”
Availability of specialists in the air conditioning trade “centrally”
Dittrich calls for an “educational turnaround that manifests itself in more financial and non-material appreciation for vocational training”. Because: The availability of specialists in the air conditioning trade is the “central linchpin for the success of the energy transition”.
It is rather unlikely that the gap in skilled workers will be closed quickly in the future. Most recently, the “Central Association for Sanitary, Heating and Air Conditioning” estimated that there would be a shortage of around 60,000 heating installers in the future. This number of additional installers will be needed if all markets are served and the industry is not to concentrate solely on installing new heating systems. The general manager of the association, Helmut Bramann, told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
In addition, an energy consultant must be consulted for energy-related refurbishment in order to receive subsidies from the state. Due to the shortage of skilled workers, this requires a lot of patience. The result: waiting times of up to four months.
Hermann Dannecker, Board Member of the German Energy Consultants Network on BILD: “The number of energy consultants is growing, but there are still far too few at the moment. Officially, 13,000 energy advisors are listed, but only about a third of them are actually active.”According to Dannecker, the number of active energy consultants must quadruple.