Home Heating
Race to retrofit homes to meet energy efficiency goals
As concern about climate change grows, many are looking to reduce their carbon footprint. Retrofitting ensures home are energy efficient - but to achieve carbon neutrality, millions of homes will need to be altered.
In the Netherlands, 6000 homes have been retrofitted with energy efficient insulation based on ideas from not-for-profit Enerigesprong. '80% of the buildings that will be here in 2050, at least in Europe, were not built to the standard needed to eliminate carbon emissions', explains Energiesprong co-founder Ron van Erck. Retrofitting can save money in the long-term. 'Your energy bill goes to zero, meaning that you have a lot of money to spend on actually retrofitting your home', says energy efficient start-up owner Jasper Van Den Munckhof. But reaching net zero by 2050 will be a challenge. 'We see a lot of energy efficiency initiatives that try to tweak one thing and work on solving one problem. But if you don't solve all the problems at the same time, the puzzle never really fits', says Ron Van Erck.
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