News item | 02-04-2022 | 09:36
On 2 April 2022, the national government will start a national campaign under the name ‘Turn the button too’ on to stimulate households and entrepreneurs with practical saving tips to save energy in the short term. To help people insulate their homes, the cabinet is introducing the National Insulation Program to quickly and smartly tackle poorly insulated rental and owner-occupied homes. The goal is to insulate 2.5 million homes.
Minister Rob Jetten: “Energy saving has not received the attention it deserves in recent years. We are now going to change that. It makes sense to save energy for several reasons. It is good for your wallet, the climate and it helps us to become less dependent on That is why we will be putting energy saving on everyone’s mind in the near future with a campaign with practical tips to save energy that households and companies can use to save energy immediately and with extra money to help people insulate their House.”
Minister Hugo de Jonge: “The urgency to save energy and insulate better is greater than ever. That is why we are joining forces and coming up with the National Insulation Programme. This way we can help people quickly and directly to insulate their homes. The goal is that “We are going to insulate 2.5 million homes. The cabinet itself is also taking measures to save energy. In about 200 government offices, the heating is on average 2 degrees lower in winter and less cooled in summer.”
Start national campaign ‘turn the switch too’
The self-evidence with which we use energy is changing. Gas and electricity have become more expensive, causing energy bills to rise. The Netherlands must become less dependent on gas from Russia. And we have to fight climate change. For all these reasons it is important that we save more energy. That is why the government is launching a national publicity campaign on April 2, under the name ‘Also turn the switch‘, for radio, TV, online and in national and regional newspapers. The campaign offers practical tips with which households and entrepreneurs can easily save energy. This is possible, for example, by taking a shower for no longer than 5 minutes and/or setting the thermostat to 19 degrees during the day and 15 degrees at night. The cabinet also makes an urgent appeal to Dutch companies and entrepreneurs to participate by, for example, saving energy on the lighting, heating and/or ventilation of business premises. The cabinet itself will also turn the switch and set a good example. In 200 government offices, the heating will be reduced by an average of 2 degrees in winter from 21 to 19 degrees, and in summer there will be less cooling.
National Isolation Program
The goal of the National Insulation Program is to insulate 2.5 million homes with a focus on poorly insulated homes with energy labels E, F and G. Of all 8 million homes, approximately 1.5 million homes still have an energy label E or worse. Together with all parties involved, including home owners, VvEs, landlords, tenants, the government, municipalities, NGOs and market parties, the cabinet wants to have improved all poorly insulated homes by 2030 at the latest. The cabinet is making a total of 4 billion euros available for this up to and including 2030. The cabinet’s ambition is to insulate 750,000 homes via a district-oriented approach with municipalities. To this end, municipalities will be given the option in the coming years to offer residents an extra discount, voucher or voucher in the neighborhoods where they will be the first to start work, on top of the nationally available subsidies. The cabinet also wants to insulate one million rental homes to the insulation standard, both in the social and private segment. In addition, efforts will be made to accelerate the insulation of 750,000 homes on their own initiative through collective purchasing initiatives. This is stimulated with attractive, accessible, widely accessible financing and subsidies, and with the national insulation campaign and the ‘Improve your home’ platform. on improvejehuis.nl home owners can easily get a first picture of the current energy efficiency of their home, which improvements are possible, and what the costs and savings are of these measures. The website also provides information about the subsidies and financing options that you can use as a home owner. For people with insufficient savings and who cannot turn to the market for financing at attractive conditions, the National Heat Fund offers energy savings loans to which the cabinet will add a 0% interest energy savings loan.
Sustainability coalition
The government, municipalities, housing associations and home owners cannot do this alone. That is why we are joining forces to make the built environment more sustainable and to accelerate energy savings in the short term. The campaign is supported by a broad social coalition that will make an effort to share knowledge, intensify communication and accelerate and better connect activities.