Europe is heading towards another winter with a smaller gas buffer. After the energy crisis, European countries built exceptionally high gas reserves to reduce their vulnerability to supply disruptions. But over the past few years, that comfortable position has changed. Gas reserves remaining at the end of winter have fallen sharply since 2024, while Europe is also struggling to refill storage facilities as quickly as in previous years.
The Netherlands and Germany are among the countries currently facing this challenge.
Why are Europe's gas reserves falling, what could this mean for energy prices and could heating people instead of entire spaces become an increasingly relevant way to reduce our energy consumption?
Europe's gas buffer is shrinking
Gas storage is essential because European energy demand changes dramatically throughout the year. Gas can be stored when demand is lower and withdrawn during winter, when millions of households need energy for heating.
Over the past few years, however, the buffer remaining after winter has clearly moved in the wrong direction.
EU gas storage utilisation on 1 April. Source: ACER, based on AGSI/GIE data.
The graph shows how dramatically the situation has changed since 2024. In only two years, the amount of gas remaining in European storage at the end of winter has more than halved. And rebuilding those reserves is proving difficult. By 20 August 2026, EU storage facilities were approximately 62% full, compared with 74% at the same point in 2025.
The Netherlands and Germany are falling behind
The Netherlands provides a clear example.
Gasunie has confirmed that the country is no longer expected to reach its target of 115 TWh of stored gas before winter. The target was calculated to ensure that the Netherlands would be prepared for a winter comparable to one of the harshest experienced during the past 30 years. Germany is facing a similar challenge. In late August, German storage facilities were only just over 50% full, compared with approximately 76% one year earlier.
One reason is economic.
Normally, companies buy relatively cheap gas during summer, store it and sell it when prices rise during winter. But this incentive has weakened. Summer gas prices can be relatively expensive compared with future winter prices, making it commercially unattractive to fill storage facilities. The result is an uncomfortable situation: Europe needs gas reserves for energy security, while the market does not always provide a strong financial incentive to fill them.
Why lower gas reserves can matter for energy prices
Low gas reserves do not only matter because of the physical amount of gas available. They also reduce Europe's ability to absorb unexpected events. A prolonged cold spell, disruption to international supplies or increased global demand for LNG can suddenly increase the amount of gas Europe needs to buy. With a smaller buffer, Europe becomes more dependent on additional imports.
That can create a simple chain reaction:
Lower reserves → cold winter or supply disruption → greater demand for imported gas → increased competition for available supply → higher wholesale prices
Europe has already experienced how powerful this effect can become.
Case study: the 2021–2022 European energy crisis
Europe entered the winter of 2021 with unusually low gas inventories. At the same time, international gas supplies were tightening. Wholesale prices started climbing rapidly. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 subsequently created enormous uncertainty around European gas supplies, pushing the market into an unprecedented energy crisis.
European TTF wholesale gas prices during the 2021–2022 energy crisis. Source: European Central Bank.
The increase was extraordinary. European wholesale gas had traded at roughly €20–€30/MWh during the first half of 2021. At the height of the crisis in August 2022, TTF prices exceeded €300/MWh. The European Central Bank concluded that low gas inventories amplified price volatility by making the market more sensitive to changes in expected energy supply and demand. It illustrates why storage acts as more than a physical reserve. It is also a buffer against price shocks.
What can households actually control?
Individual households cannot control Europe's gas reserves, international LNG markets, geopolitical developments or the severity of the coming winter. What we can control is how we use energy at home. And that raises an interesting question:
Why heat an entire space when what you really need to keep warm is yourself?
Our traditional response to feeling cold is to turn up the thermostat.
But imagine working from home alone. You are sitting behind a desk in one room, barely moving and start feeling cold. Turning up the thermostat means using additional energy to heat the surrounding air — and potentially multiple rooms — simply because one person wants to feel warmer.
Personal heating takes the opposite approach: instead of increasing the temperature of the entire environment, heat is delivered directly where it is needed.
From heating spaces to heating people
Traditional heating works by warming the environment around us. Personal heating turns that principle around: instead of heating an entire room to make one person comfortable, warmth is delivered directly to the body.
Modern heated clothing uses integrated heating elements powered by rechargeable batteries. Multiple heat settings allow the temperature to be adjusted to personal preference, while the portable design means the warmth moves with you, from your desk to the sofa, garden, garage or outdoors.
Keep your core comfortably warm
The upper body plays an important role in how warm and comfortable we feel. A heated vest provides targeted warmth around the torso without requiring the surrounding room to become warmer. This makes it particularly useful during long periods of sitting, such as working from home, but also in colder workplaces, garages and outdoor environments. Rather than automatically turning up the thermostat when you start to feel cold, you can increase the heat directly around your body.
Warm feet can change how cold you feel
Cold feet can make your entire body feel cold, even when the room itself is reasonably comfortable. Warming the feet can therefore have a noticeable effect on overall thermal comfort. Heated socks generate warmth directly around the feet, targeting one of the areas where many people experience the cold first. Once your feet feel comfortably warm, there may be less reason to increase the temperature of the entire room simply to feel warmer overall.
Warm your workspace – not the entire room
When working from home, warmth does not have to stop at heated clothing. A heated mouse mat provides gentle, direct warmth around your hands and workspace, particularly welcome during long hours behind a desk. Instead of increasing the temperature of the entire home office, you create a comfortable warm zone exactly where you spend your day.
Make evenings warmer
The same principle works when it is time to relax. A heated blanket or heated cushion delivers warmth directly while reading, watching television or relaxing on the sofa. Rather than turning up the thermostat for the entire living room, you can create your own warm and comfortable space. It is personal heating at its simplest: warmth where you are, when you need it.
Target the warmth, not the room
The strength of personal heating lies in its flexibility. You can choose the type of warmth that suits the moment, whether that is warming your body, your feet, your workspace or creating a comfortable warm zone on the sofa. The goal is not to replace central heating. Instead, central heating can maintain an appropriate base temperature, while personal heating provides targeted, adjustable warmth exactly where it is needed.
A smarter approach to staying warm
Europe’s declining gas buffer is a reminder that energy availability and prices cannot always be taken for granted. A cold winter, supply disruption or increased competition for gas can quickly put additional pressure on the energy market, as the 2021–2022 crisis demonstrated. Households cannot control European gas reserves, international LNG markets or geopolitical developments. But they can control how efficiently they use energy at home.
Insulation, smart thermostats and reducing unnecessary heat loss remain important. Personal heating adds another option: using energy specifically where additional warmth is needed, rather than automatically heating a larger space.
The potential savings will differ for every household, but the principle is simple:
Keep your home at a comfortable, responsible temperature. And when you need extra warmth, heat yourself — not the entire space.
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Sources:
- ACER / AGSI — EU gas storage data and historical storage levels.
- European Central Bank — analysis of the 2021–2022 European energy crisis, gas inventories and price volatility.
- Reuters — current 2026 European and German gas storage developments.
- Gasunie — Dutch gas storage target and winter preparedness.
