Vereniging Stroomversnelling gives body to Climate Accord

'Energy labels are focused on reducing energy demand'

As one of the participants in the Build Environment sector table, the Stroomversnelling association is making an important contribution to the recently concluded Climate Agreement. Chairman Leen van Dijke: "The energy labels will actually provide information about the actual heat demand of a home with maximum kilowatt hours per square meter as a standard. Thus, actual reduction of energy demand will become the new starting point of housing sustainability. Furthermore, we expect a lot from new tender schemes that accelerate the necessary industrialization of housing construction and embed sustainability."

Van Dijke sees light on the horizon thanks to the recently concluded Climate Agreement. In it, about a hundred companies, civil society organizations and governments make concrete agreements on measures to reduce CO₂-emissions in the Netherlands can be reduced by half of current values. A number of agreements and regulations, for example for the investment space of housing corporations, will contribute to this. The landlord levy will be reduced from 2020 - albeit eventually halved, it was agreed in the Climate Accord. This will give the corporations more financial room to contribute to the energy transition and sustainability of the existing stock. However, more clarity is needed on supply-side targets. Now, for example, the labeling system is still too results-oriented, Van Dijke says. "For example, we are going to give the energy labels more substance with labeling based on maximum energy demand, with a target maximum of 25 kWh/m² per new construction home." As a society, we should not focus on one-size-fits-all solutions such as more connections to heat networks, Van Dijke argues. "The heat networks have an enormous range, but simply connecting them is not yet sustainability. Are the sources that feed the heat networks sustainable? In any case, the solution starts with reducing heat demand."

Sixties homes
The construction sector is facing boom times and labor shortages, and it is not easy to achieve the initial goal of the 2013 Stroomversnelling social deal (100,000 NOM renovations by 2020). Van Dijke: "We achieved a total of 8,000 NOM renovations and NOM new-build homes in 2018, a significant advance over 2017. But it's not easy in the current market." That there is a social basis for NOM projects has been a fact for some time. "With the energy performance allowance, one has a guaranteed cash flow that enables realization of the NOM renovation. In addition, it is possible to carry out a NOM renovation in stages; a seal of approval for this is under development." 

A NOM renovation is an investment in longevity and property value, as well as part of long-term maintenance. "Anyone who invests in preservation, therefore, does so with a view to the long term, whereby we naturally advise implementing 'regret-free' measures. If you make a house NOM-ready (only roof and facade renovation; ed.) it is obviously not the intention that you have to reverse certain interventions in the house later in order to make it more sustainable. A 'seal of approval on steps' can help with that." The 8,000 NOM homes produced from 2018 are a move in the right direction, says Van Dijke, although partly driven by the increase in new construction production. The chairman of Stroomversnelling therefore looks critically at the results. "Making stacked construction and new construction more sustainable are nice, but the greatest energy gains can be made in the renovation of ground-level homes. And 1960s homes are priority number one in this."

Sustainable Production Incentives (SDE).
There is work to be done, including for the industry in the context of innovativeness. Leen van Dijke expects much from the new tender scheme for the industrialization of renovation concepts for existing homes. That will challenge strategic forms of multi-party cooperation in making the built environment more sustainable. "This will benefit the participating consortia for several reasons, because circular goals are also easier to achieve with each other and under conditioned conditions." The supporting subsidy scheme is similar to that of wind farms (SDE). So there will be a lot of interest in it. And unlike a buyer subsidy, a subsidy scheme that focuses on the supply side will be able to bring about a change in the sector. "There will be selection on quality, on the offer that has the most CO₂-reduction and makes the least use of the subsidy amount made available. As with the energy labeling story mentioned above, the SDE scheme must focus on actual reductions in heat demand." The "poldering" at the Climate Agreement and the meetings of the Built Environment Sector Table have been useful; the sense of urgency is widely supported, Van Dijke believes. "It is now up to the sector itself - and that includes clients, industry and end users - to make it a success. NOM renovation according to the Stroomversnelling, if aimed at reducing energy demand, will certainly contribute to achieving the climate goals."