Denmark presents plan to replace Russian gas with sustainable energy

Follow live the latest news about the war in Ukraine

COPENHAGE, 19 Apr. (DPA/PE) –

The Government of Denmark has presented this Tuesday a plan to replace Russian gas as soon as possible and that implies that more Danish homes use sustainable energy to heat themselves, instead of fossil fuels.

The Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, has detailed in a press conference that all homeowners whose heating systems work with gas or oil will be informed in writing to see if they can join the new heating network.

This scheme, called district heating, is centrally controlled and works in geographical areas where alternative fuel systems are easier to operate. They are more energy efficient than individual home boilers, but can be more expensive or technically more difficult to set up.

Around 400,000 homes in a country of six million people use natural gas. According to Climate Minister Dan Jorgensen, more than 50 percent of them will have switched to the new system by 2028 at the latest. The rest, for whom the change will not be possible, will be equipped with heat pumps or use Danish gas, which the Danes call “green gas”.

Currently, about 55 percent of the country’s living space uses district heating, while 27 percent uses natural gas or oil.