News item | 12/30/2021 | 16:48
New subsidy rules will apply from 1 January if you want to make your home more sustainable. From then on, if you take two sustainability measures, you will not be reimbursed 20% of the costs, but 30%. Sustainability measures include insulation (floor, roof, cavity wall insulation or HR++ glass) and also the purchase of a heat pump or a hybrid heat pump.
In 2050 we no longer want to heat our homes with natural gas. The national government will help homeowners to consume less energy in the coming years and to make their homes more sustainable so that they can be heated without natural gas in the future. The grant is part of the investment subsidy sustainable energy (ISDE) and applies to owners who live in their own home. The subsidy can be applied for for at least two insulation measures, or for a combination of one insulation measure with a (hybrid) heat pump. Owners’ associations can apply for insulation measures to the Energy Saving Own Home Subsidy (SEEH).
How well should you insulate?
With a well-insulated house you use less energy, which reduces your energy bill. It is also more comfortable: with floor insulation the ground does not feel cold and with roof insulation the attic is also comfortably warm.
The government has drawn up guidelines to which limit you should insulate your house: the standard and target values. This standard indicates when the house is insulated well enough to become natural gas-free. The target values indicate for individual building parts, such as roof, floor or windows, which insulation you are good with anyway.
Heat pump
The standard distinguishes between houses before and after 1945. This is because cavity wall insulation is often not possible in houses built before 1945. If your house is insulated according to the standard, you can replace the central heating system (which runs on natural gas) with a heat pump or hybrid heat pump. A heat pump runs on electricity and extracts its heat from the air. A hybrid heat pump, sensible in some cases for pre-1945 homes, also heats with electricity, but has the option of switching to natural gas heating in very cold weather, allowing for higher temperatures than electric heating.
The increase in the subsidy scheme will in any case apply until 2024.