Supporting the energy transition
Summary
As part of a large scale national program to transition the use of energy in the Netherlands from natural gas to electricity, the Dutch government is eager to learn from early adopters and to identify ways to better support the many people and households who are still to follow. To inform this process of learning and support the development of new policies and services, STBY was invited to conduct a design research project across the country. They have often done a lot of research by themselves, hacked together bespoke solutions to suit their situation, and created workarounds for the practical problems they faced. From the perspective of the residents, they are in most cases gradually on their way to make their homes more sustainable, and switching from natural gas to electricity is just one step in that process. Timing and access to finance are key Amongst our other findings we learned that many considerations whether or not to transition a dwelling to energy neutral are similar across all participants.