The energy performance of dwellings with heat pumps of Dutch non-profit housing associations

Achieving energy efficiency in the built environment requires extensive efforts in the renovation and adaptation of housing stock. A promising design solution is the heat pump. While gas boiler systems are commonly used in Dutch non-profit housing stock, the share of dwellings with a heat pump grew from 1.6% in 2017 to 3.2% in 2021. However,...

The Progress of Energy Renovations of Housing in the Netherlands

The European Union formulated high ambitions of energy reductions to be realised in the built environment. The existing housing stock covers a major share of energy use and is seen as high potential to contribute to the savings. This should be realised in the first place by reducing the energy demand for heating by renovation of the existing...

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...

Policies and practices for an energy efficient European housing stock

The housing stock has a major energy saving potential and is mostly considered to be the sector in which energy efficiency most cost effectively could be achieved. 30% of all energy use is consumed in the housing stock. The European union has formulated targets for a reduction of CO2 emissions to be achieved by a combination of energy efficiency...

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...

Progress of energy reduction in the Dutch non-profit housing sector

The European Union formulated high ambitions of energy reductions to be realised in the built environment. The existing housing stock covers a major share of energy use and is seen as high potential to contribute to the savings. This should be realised in the first place by reducing the energy demand for heating by renovation of the existing...

Owner-occupiers and the quality of their dwellings

Home-owners are in principal responsible for maintaining the physical quality of their dwellings. It is in their own interest to do this in an adequate manner, but all kinds of constraints can and do occur in practice. Lack of financial means and insufficient (technical or practical) knowledge are only two of the possible barriers. The quality...