Benchmarking energy performance: indicators and models for Dutch housing associations

Benchmarking is a method that can be used to measure progress and create awareness about the performance of organisations. Benchmarking the housing stock energy performance of Dutch housing associations can be used to measure and assess progress towards the decarbonisation of the housing stock. A new national climate agreement was signed in...

Monitoring energy performance improvement: insights from Dutch housing association dwellings

The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) enhanced the sustainable improvement of dwellings in the European Union. Member states formulated measurable goals to improve the housing stock, and monitoring systems were developed to give insights into the improvements. In the Netherlands, non-profit housing associations agreed to improve...

Improving energy performance: many small interventions or selective deep renovations?

Recent findings from a monitor containing around 1.5 million homes in the Dutch non-profit rented sector show that the energy improvement pace in the sector in the last years is too slow to meet the nationally agreed level in 2020. The findings also show that the improvement of the energy performance of the respective homes is mostly carried out...

Energy regulations for housing and the performance gap

The goals of energy saving and CO2 reductions to create an energy neutral building stock seem only to be reached by strict and supportive governmental policies. In Europe the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and the Energy Efficiency Directive are driving forces for Member States to develop and strengthen energy performance regulations...

Effectiveness of energy efficiency regulatory tools in the housing sector

The urgent need for a dramatic reduction of fossil fuels in the built environment is without any doubt. The energy saving potential of the building stock is considered to be large and to be the most cost efficient sector to contribute to the CO2 reductions. Goals set by the European Union are to build net zero energy buildings in 2020 and to...

A comparative evaluation of low-energy, passive and zero-energy houses in The Netherlands and Belgium

The presented research aims to evaluate highly energy-efficient dwellings, in particular Passive Houses (PH), in Flanders and in The Netherlands, based on end-user experiences. In the introduction the definition of PH in the Benelux countries Belgium and The Netherlands is compared with the Nordic countries and certification and comfort issues...

Upgrade or replace?: The effect of the EPBD on the choice between improvement or replacement

What is better: improvement or replacement by new construction? The choice between life cycle extension and replacement of existing buildings is at itself a vital but very difficult decision, involving a wide range of different aspects and affecting several contrary and often conflicting interests. The emerging ecological awareness of the...

The impact of energy performance regulations on systems of building control