The Active House Alliance meets the minister of buildings in Netherlands
Energy efficient building is presently a hot topic in the building sector. In 2020, new buildings in the Netherlands must be energy-neutral, and it will also be an enormous challenge to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings. This was the main topic on a conference about Active House hosted by the Danish Embassy in Den Haag, and supported by the Active House members VELUX, Grundfos and Rockwool as well as Danfoss.
Whereas the Netherlands is still looking for the right balance between user comfort and energy performance in residential buildings, Denmark is a global leader in this area. The Danish ambassador, Mr Ole Moesby, is happy with the European EPBD guideline, which assists the EU member states in establishing legal frameworks with requirements for all new buildings. These buildings must be Nearly Zero Energy Buildings no later than 31 December 2020. “Future requirements for Nearly Zero Energy Buildings must provide developers with a framework that can be used to design buildings with a minimum impact on the environment as well as a healthy and comfortable indoor climate,” explains Moesby
Minister Blok responds by noting that the party investing in energy saving measures is not always the one who also benefits. “Who benefits? The benefits of energy savings must be explained much more clearly to residents. Residents are more interested in the quality of their environment and less interested in economic calculations. The challenge is therefore to convince them that investing in energy savings and comfort makes sense.”
Kurt Emil Eriksen from the Active House Alliance gave a presentation on the vision of Active House and suggested to balance the focus on Comfort, Energy and Environment. He explained that such a balanced focus would create benefits for both the investors as well as people living in the buildings. On behalf of the Dutch members of the alliance, Minister Blok was invited to visit the Active House renovation project in Montfoort.
