Energy renovations offer unique opportunities to increase the energy efficiency of the built environment and for the existing housing stock; they are the most important solution. Usually, energy savings are based on modeling calculations. However, recent research has shown that the predicted energy consumption differs largely from the actual consumption. In this paper, the effectiveness of energy measures is re-assessed based on actual consumption data. We use a monitoring system, which contains information about the energy performance of around 60% of the Dutch non-profit housing sector (circa 1.2 million dwellings). We connect the data from this monitoring system to actual energy consumption data from Statistics Netherlands on a dwelling level. Using longitudinal analysis methods, from 2010 to 2014, we are able to identify the energy efficiency improvements of the stock and determine the effectiveness of different measures in terms of actual energy savings. The results reveal the actual energy savings of different efficiency measures and highlight the significance of the actual energy consumption when a renovation is planned or realized.

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The housing stock has a major share in energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the Netherlands. CO2 emissions increased 2.5% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018. Higher CO2 emissions were principally due to raised gas consumption for heating in the residential and service sector¹. Energy efficiency renovations can contribute considerably in reducing energy consumption and achieving the EU and national energy efficiency targets. However, based on recent research², the renovation rates in the Dutch social housing sector are not adequate to achieve the energy efficiency targets. Moreover, the deep renovation rates are almost negligible in this sector. The Dutch housing stock consists of the owner-occupied sector and rental sector (social housing and private rental houses) with shares equal to 69.4% and 30.6%, respectively. Considering the major share of the housing sector in energy consumption, the aim of the current study is to evaluate and compare the renovation rates in these sectors and the potential contribution of each one in achieving the energy efficiency targets. By renovation rate, we mean the percentage changes in the number of the identical houses moving from one energy label to the more efficient energy labels. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and Statistics Netherlands (CBS) databases are used to conduct the statistical analysis. The results show that the renovation rates are almost the same in these three sectors, despite the expectation of much higher renovation rates in the social housing sector.

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Worldwide, buildings consume a large part of the total energy delivered. In the context of all the end-use sectors, buildings represent the largest sector with 39% of the total final energy consumption, followed by transport in the EU (European Union ). Policy targets and regulations are in force at the EU level to ensure the energy efficiency improvement of the building stock. This research seeks to provide insight into the energy performance progress, of the existing non-profit housing stock in the Netherlands, through the application of energy renovations. The non-profit housing stock comprises 30% of the housing market in the Netherlands and a large part of the policies towards a more efficient housing stock rely on the non-profit housing sector. To that end, we determine the energy renovation rate of the stock and the impact of the applied renovations on both the predicted and actual energy consumption. The difference of predicted and actual energy savings is analysed through longitudinal statistical modelling in renovated and non-renovated dwellings. Based on the knowledge gained on the renovation rates of the non-profit housing stock we compare and evaluate future renovation rates through dynamic building stock modelling and empirical data validation. In essence, we examine the effect that the improvement of thermo-physical characteristics of dwellings has on efforts to make the existing housing stock almost emission-neutral by 2050, as advocated by the European Commission since 2011. The renovation activity is expected to be greater than the construction and demolition activity in the future and as such we need to bring awareness to the actual impact and effectiveness of energy renovations.@en

The Paris Agreement on climate change implicates huge improvements of the energy performance of buildings and the energy infrastructure. The European Union formulated high ambitions for the built environment. The existing housing stock is responsible for a major share of energy use and is considered to have a high potential to contribute to the savings. Therefore, the Netherlands aims for a carbon neutral housing stock in 2050. The consequences of this goal and the ways of how to realise it are yet unclear. Most emphasis in policies and practices is on reducing the energy demand for heating by renovation of the existing stock and bringing the dwellings to a higher energy performance standard. The targets, policies and renovation programmes are already applied for several years now and the question arises of what progress can be seen in renovation activities and energy saving results. This paper is based on data on improvement rates of the Dutch non-profit housing sector and insight in the relation with actual energy reduction. Based on these insights the challenges for 2050 are discussed. @en

Energy renovations offer unique opportunities to increase the energy efficiency of the built environment and for the existing housing stock, they are the most important solution. Usually, energy savings are based on modelling calculations. However, recent research has shown that the predicted energy consumption differs largely from the actual consumption. In this paper, the effectiveness of energy measures is re-assessed based on actual consumption data. We use a monitoring system, which contains information about the energy performance of around 60% of the Dutch non-profit housing sector (circa 1.2 million dwellings). We connect the data from this monitoring system to actual energy consumption data from Statistics Netherlands on a dwelling level. Using longitudinal analysis methods, from 2010 to 2014, we are able to identify the energy efficiency improvements of the stock and determine the effectiveness of different measures in terms of actual energy savings. The results reveal the actual energy savings of different efficiency measures and highlight the significance of the actual energy consumption when a renovation is planned or realized.@en

The existing housing stock plays a major role in meeting the energy saving targets set in the Netherlands as well as in the EU. Existing buildings account for 38% of the final energy consumption in the European Union (EU), and they are responsible for 36% of the CO₂ emissions. Energy renovations in dwellings offer unique opportunities to reduce both energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. In this article, the renovation rates for the non-profit housing stock of the Netherlands are presented, based on the changes in the energy performance of 856,252 dwellings for the period of 2010–2014. The data necessary are drawn from a monitoring system that contains information about the energy performance of approximately 60% of all dwellings in the sector. The method used follows the changes of the dwellings’ physical properties and reported energy performance. The results show that although many energy improvements have been realized, they result in small changes of the energy efficiency of the dwellings. Deep energy renovation rates are very low. If this pace continues, the progress is too little to reach national and international policy targets. The renovation rates are not high enough and the trends seem difficult to reach.

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The existing housing stock plays a major role in the realization of the energy efficiency targets. The non-profit housing sector in the Netherlands dominates the housing market as it represents 31% of the total housing stock. In the municipality of Amsterdam, where this share is even 46%, subsidies were given to housing associations between 2011 and 2014 when an energy renovation of their rental property took place and resulted in a better energy performance. The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of thermal renovation on the actual and the predicted energy consumption of the dwellings concerned and to compare both types of consumption. For the non-profit rental dwellings that have undergone renovation in Amsterdam, we use longitudinal data from 2009 to 2013 to examine their actual and predicted gas consumption before and after renovation. The main outcome of the analysis is that in almost all groups of dwellings the gas consumed after renovation decreased significantly. Most of the dwellings had a combination of measures performed and the actual gas consumption savings depend on these combinations. Despite the fact that gas savings after renovation were observed in all dwellings no pattern was found indicating that the better the predicted energy performance achieved, the more actual savings were realized after renovation, but this may be due to the relatively small size of the sample.@en

A dynamic building stock model is applied to simulate the development of dwelling stocks in 11 European countries, over half of all European dwellings, between 1900 and 2050. The model uses time series of population and number of persons per dwelling, as well as demolition and renovation probability functions that have been derived for each country. The model performs well at simulating the long-term changes in dwelling stock composition and expected annual renovation activities. Despite differences in data collection and reporting, the modelled future trends for construction, demolition and renovation activities lead to similar patterns emerging in all countries. The model estimates future renovation activity due to the stock’s need for maintenance as a result of ageing. The simulations show only minor future increases in the renovation rates across all 11 countries to between 0.6–1.6%, falling short of the 2.5–3.0% renovation rates that are assumed in many decarbonisation scenarios. Despite this, 78% of all dwellings could benefit from energy efficiency measures by 2050, either as they are constructed (31%) or undergo deep renovation (47%). However, as no more than one deep renovation cycle is likely on this timeframe, it is crucial to install the most energy efficient measures available at these opportunities.@en

The existing housing stock plays a major role in meeting the energy efficiency targets set in EU member states such as the Netherlands. The non-profit housing sector in this country dominates the housing market as it represents 31% of the total housing stock. The focus of this paper is to examine the energy efficiency measures that are currently applied in this sector and their effects on the energy performance. The information necessary for the research is drawn from a monitoring system that contains data about the physical state and the energy performance of more than 1.5 million dwellings in the sector. The method followed is based on the statistical modeling and data analysis of physical properties regarding energy efficiency, general dwellings’ characteristics and energy performance of 757,614 households. The outcomes of this research provide insight in the energy efficiency measures applied to the existing residential stock. Most of the changes regard the heating and domestic hot water (DHW) systems, and the glazing. The rest of the building envelope elements are not improved at the same frequency. The results show that the goals for this sector will be hard to achieve if the same strategy for renovation is followed.@en