Against the background of global climate changes and several legal obligations, the target of this paper is to analyze the buying behavior of house owners in Germany with respect to heating systems and the main factors influencing choice when purchasing a specific heating system (e.g., oil heating or wood pellet heating). To investigate these issues, a Germany-wide written survey was conducted and the completed questionnaires of 775 respondents analyzed using multinomial logistic regression. Of 29 different variables influencing the purchase of a heating system, 12 statistically significant variables have been identified which characterize the owners of oil heating, a heat pump, gas heating and wood pellet heating. The membership of different ecological clusters primarily segregates the owners of a specific heating system, but the assessment of the different combustibles also plays a major role in this context. Suppliers of heating systems can use the results of this study to fine-tune their marketing strategies. With respect to policy issues only limited room for additional economic incentives can be identified to promote replacement of fossil-fuel based heating systems in favor of renewable ones. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.