More than half of home owners are not boosting energy efficiency

Photo: DutchNews.nl
Photo: DutchNews.nl

More than half the Netherlands’ four million home owners are not yet taking steps to make their homes more energy efficient, the government’s socio-cultural advisory unit SCP said on Thursday.

By law, all seven million homes in the the Netherlands should use energy and heating from renewable sources by 2050, and the SCP says the government must take a more active role in stimulating home owners to make changes.

For example, three-quarters of terraced or detached homes do not have solar panels on their roofs and almost half of owners have not done anything to improve the insulation of their properties, the SCP said.

While people are willing to make their homes more durable, high costs, uncertainty about how long they will live in the property and expectations that it will be cheaper to do so in the future, are stopping them from taking action, the SCP said.

‘On the one hand, generic policy is needed to encourage willingness and to stimulate and support the group willing to take action,’ the SCP said. ‘On the other hand, more specific policy efforts will be needed to help home owners who are not able to make their homes more sustainable.’

Problems

Last month, current affairs show Nieuwsuur reported that plans to have removed 100,000 rental homes from the national gas network by 2022 are not realistic.

The problems are being caused by complex rules and high costs, which are not adequately covered by subsidies.

The Financieele Dagblad also pointed out that some of the worst insulated houses in the Netherlands are in the richest local authority areas, like Heemstede, Laren and Bloemendaal.

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