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Speed limits and ‘home office’: How Germany could reduce its oil consumption

As Germany struggles with its dependence on Russian oil, environmental groups and climate-conscious politicians have proposed ways of reducing this while also protecting the climate.

Published: 9 March 2022 17:25 CET

Speed limits and 'home office': How Germany could reduce its oil consumption

A thermostat attached to a radiator displays the temperature. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-tmn | Franziska Gabbert

Germany’s dependence on Russian energy supplies means it’s unlikely that the German government will be able to place a ban on oil imports like the one announced by the USA on Tuesday.

Both the Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) have also recently warned of grave consequences for Germany if such imports were to stop.

Russian oil imports are mainly processed in refineries into fuel and diesel, but are also used for heating and many German companies also use oil as a raw material and manufacturing lubricant.

But another way around the issue could be to put in place measures that lead to reduction in oil consumption and for people to change their habits to conserve more energy. Here are some of the measures that have been proposed so far.

Driving speed limits

The controversial topic of introducing speed limits on the Autobahn is doing the rounds again, as both Greenpeace and the Environmental Action Germany have raised the issue again in the last week. They have claimed that a reduction in speed could save 3.7 billion litres of petrol and diesel, as well as 9.2 million tonnes of CO2.

They’re not only suggesting an introduction of a speed limit of 100 km/h on motorways, but also a reduction from 120 to 80 km/h on country roads and from 50 to 30 km/h inside towns for the duration of the current crisis.

Speed limit 100 is written on a traffic sign on a motorway on the border between the Netherlands and Germany. Phtoto: picture alliance/dpa | Friso Gentsch

Turning down the heating

According to the International Energy Agency, heating German households by one degree less would have an enormous effect on the annual demand for energy.

The Director of German think-tank Agora Energiewende, has stated that, if people lower their heating by 1-2 degrees, they can reduce the energy consumption in their household by at least 10-15 percent and, if they turning the radiators down when out of the room could save six percent of household energy demand.

Taking simple measures like this, and wearing warmer clothes could add up to a big impact on Germany’s overall energy consumption.

Driving more carefully

The ADAC automobile association also recently pointed out that driving behaviours can also help lower fuel consumption and has listed useful tips on their website.

“Drivers can easily save up to 20 percent fuel by driving with foresight and not aggressively, by avoiding unnecessary short trips, power consumption (heating, cooling), and by driving with energy-saving tyres and optimal tyre pressure.

This behaviour could certainly reduce the annual fuel consumption of 52 billion litres in Germany by several billion litres, they have said.

Car-free Sundays

An archive photo from 1973 shows the view of the empty Duisburg-Kaiserberg motorway junction during the second Sunday driving ban due to the oil crisis. Photo: picture-alliance / dpa | Horst_Ossinger

The energy policy spokesperson of the SPD parliamentary group, Nina Scheer, has brought up a concept which was first implemented in Germany during the oil crisis in 1973.

So-called car-free Sundays (Autofreie Sonntage) she said “have not harmed us in the past and could also make a contribution today if a corresponding shortage requires it”.

At the time, the government of Willy Brandt put in place four car-free Sundays, and Germans were banned from driving without a special allowance.

READ ALSO: Germany considers how to ease surging energy costs

Working from home

Another proposal put forward by Greenpeace is the continuation of the working from home model which has taken off during the pandemic, as many people in Germany travel to work by car.

According to their forecast, if 40 percent of workers continued to work from home on two additional weekdays (compared to the pre-Covid level), this would save 1.6 million tonnes of fuel per year.

Would there be support in Germany for these kinds of measures?

The jury is still out on that. As Germany is such a car-loving country, speed limits or car-free Sundays would likely be difficult.

But environmental group Greenpeace said in due to the war in Ukraine, people may ready to try these kinds of steps.

Asked if these kinds of measures are likely gain support from people in Germany, a spokesperson for Greenpeace told The Local: “Proposals such as a renunciation of leisure travel by car or more cycling on short distances, rely on the support of the population.

“In view of the broad solidarity with the people in Ukraine and the great rejection of Putin’s war of aggression, society is overwhelmingly ready for such steps.”

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Thousands of jobs have already been lost in the region, where wind farms now rise near abandoned open-pit mines and many people look with dread towards 2038, the deadline for the “coal exit”.

Their fears help explain the strong local support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which does not just rail against migrants but also rejects the green energy push and questions man-made climate change.

At local elections held in Spremberg in June, the AfD scored 39.3 percent – an omen ahead of regional elections next Sunday in the state of Brandenburg, which polls suggest it could win.

Lignite, or brown coal, may be a climate killer, but since the 19th century it has been key to the identity of the Lusatia industrial region on the Polish border, known as the Lausitz in German.

“Thousands of people here have been linked to coal their whole working lives,” said the town’s mayor, Christine Herntier, an independent who has held the post for a decade.

“We are proud of our tradition,” said Herntier, 67, pointing to a huge map on her office wall of the Schwarze Pumpe plant and its surrounding industrial complex.

Most people in Spremberg, population 25,000, have grudgingly accepted the coal phase-out plan, under which the government has earmarked billions for structural transition plans, she said.

But, she added, ahead of the state election the winding down of coal “is still a big issue”.

‘Anger over wind farm’

Michael Hanko, the AfD’s top representative in Spremberg, said he is certain that the looming demise of the lignite industry is “one of the main reasons” residents are voting for his party.

“I don’t think the government has really got them on board with this whole prescribed transformation, saying that we now have to do everything with renewable energies,” Hanko said.

Michael Hanko, the AfD (Alternative for Germany) top candidate, in Spremberg, eastern Germany on, September 9, 2024. Photo by Femke COLBORNE / AFP

The AfD, founded about a decade ago, scored a triumph earlier this month when it won an election in the eastern state of Thuringia and came a close second in Saxony.

It now also has a good chance of winning in Brandenburg, the state that surrounds Berlin, where it is polling narrowly in first place at around 27 percent.

When the German government decided five years ago to phase out coal, it pledged around €40 billion to help coal regions adapt, with €17 billion for the Lausitz alone.

Much of the money is intended to flow into developing the renewables and hydrogen sectors, helping the region maintain its identity as an energy hub.

But residents complain the investment has been too slow to materialise and is flowing into the wrong places.

In Spremberg, plans to extend a nearby wind park have caused outrage among some locals, who fear it will be a threat to 150-year-old trees, a protected swallow species and drinking water.

‘Something different’

Coal has long been synonymous with the Lausitz region, which takes in parts of Brandenburg and Saxony and a small strip of Poland, and where lignite was discovered in the late 18th century.

But the industry all but collapsed after German reunification in 1990, when most of the region’s open pit mines were shut down and thousands of jobs vanished.

Today, only around 8,000 people are employed in the lignite industry across the Lausitz, with 4,500 of them in Brandenburg, though the industry is still one of the largest private employers in the state and coal remains a strong part of the region’s identity.

Already weary from the problems caused by reunification, people in the region have felt “overwhelmed” by recent global challenges, said Lars Katzmarek, a board member of the Pro-Lausitz campaign group.

Lars Katzmarek, board member of the Pro-Lausitz campaign group. Photo by Femke COLBORNE / AFP

“The coronavirus, the energy crisis, the Ukraine war – these are all very difficult things that people still haven’t fully digested… and perhaps at some point they just close their ears,” he said.

On a rainy morning in Spremberg, Joachim Paschke, 81, who used to work in mechanical engineering and welding, was buying bread rolls in the bakery opposite the town hall.

“I’m definitely not an AfD supporter but I can understand people who are,” he said.

“The established parties have nothing concrete and the AfD is offering something different. People want change.”

By Femke COLBORNE