Austria is among the countries with the highest market penetration of bioenergy in the heat market in Europe and worldwide. While the traditional use of firewood still dominates for heating, the use of pellet heating systems has shown a very dynamic market development over the last 15 years. Currently an approximately equal amount of pellet boilers and logwood boilers are being sold in Austria.
Figure 1 shows the development of the share of different heating systems in the Austrian market. It shows clearly the substantial use of wood fuels and the reduction of the market share of oil heating systems. Sales of natural gas boilers have also declined slightly but natural gas remain the most frequently used fuel for new heating installations.