Energy neutral neighbourhoud

Vision for the future: Energy neutral revitalization of neighbourhoods - providing liveable homes that are affordable and ready for the future

It is easier to make a new home that is energy producing, than to renovate and old home in order to make it so. By demolishing a portion of existing homes, space for energy-producing homes or facilities is created. Existing homes are upgraded to meet the passive standard as much as possible. Subsequently, the new homes supply (part of) the energy for the existing homes.

Background

This study is focused on improving the quality of life in postwar neighbourhoods, and on improving the homes in these neighbourhoods through specific renovation and construction of new homes. In addition, the goal is to make the neighbourhood sustainable and climate-durable, by making it energy-neutral and by realizing rainwater harvesting. This means renovation on a large scale, in order to reduce costs and to be able to deal with several problems at once.

 

The reason for doing this, is the monofunctionality of a large number of neighbourhoods from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Combined with the large supply of social housing (comparable to British council housing), the lack of facilities and the often sub-standard building quality, this monofunctionality leads to an inferior liveability. Simultaneously, the linking of income to living costs has created a group of single and double income households who earn too much to qualify for social housing, but are not (yet) eligible for a mortgage. In addition, the ageing population requires more homes that are ready for a future in which an increasing number of senior citizens will continue to live in their own homes.

 

For the vulnerable group for whom social housing was intended, an additional role is played by the increasing costs of living, such as rent and energy. Until recently, energy costs were expected to rise sharply. Although this has proved not to be the case, energy will not be getting cheaper. At the moment, there are several initiatives to energetically improve the homes in these neighbourhoods. However, efforts are often devoted to the self-supporting renovation of a single home, known in Dutch as the 'Nul-op-de-Meter-woning' or 'meter-on-zero-home'. The investment necessary to make each home energy-neutral is high (€ 60,000-80,000) and is out of proportion to the time it takes to recover the costs.

 

Last but not least, the energy agreement has declared the intention that the built environment should be energy-neutral by 2050. In order to be able to meet this goal in 2050, the first steps will have to be taken today.

 

It is interesting to look at the energy question not just at the home level, but also at the neighbourhood level. This way, it will be possible to deal with several problems at once.

Revitalizing neighbourhoods (the new neighbourhood)

The goal of this study is to come to a strategy for the revitalization of problem neighbourhoods into self-supporting neighbourhoods with a wider range of homes, more social services and a better living climate.

The idea

It is easier to make a new home that is energy-producing, than to renovate and old home in order to make it so. By demolishing a portion of existing homes, space for energy-producing homes or facilities is created. Existing homes are upgraded to meet the passive standard as much as possible. Subsequently, the new homes supply (part of) the energy for the existing homes. This way, not only will we be making headway where energy is concerned, but the liveability will be increased and the neighbourhood's monotony will be reduced by offering room for other types of housing, other residents and additional facilities. By creating energy storage for the entire neighbourhood, energy produced during the day can be used in the evenings.

 

Financially, limited renovation of existing homes and building new homes should match the costs of separately making all homes energy-neutral. The added benefit would be in the fact that the monoculture would be broken up by the space created for a mix of residents. In addition, the quality of the housing supply would go up.

 

In order to make a neighbourhood energy-neutral overall, it is very probably necessary to create additional energy generation at the neighbourhood level. For example, this could be realized by putting solar panels over parking lots, or by using wind energy or hydropower to supply additional energy. This would also require energy storage, since this energy may be available at times that do not correspond with demand, especially in the case of solar energy. Per home, this can be realized by installing a simple battery, but from the point of view of efficiency, it may be more profitable to realize this at the neighbourhood level.

Approach

Although it is a noble ambition to make an entire neighbourhood energy-neutral in one go, this is not always feasible in practice. However, the plan may be divided into several parts, creating a step-by-step plan toward the future.

 

  1. Analysis of existing neighbourhood
  2. Drafting business plan
  3. Renovation of existing homes
  4. Demolition part of existing homes
  5. Construction of new homes and other facilities
  6. Installation of separate energy grid (smart grid)
  7. Installation of additional energy generation and energy storage in the neighbourhood

Current situation

In order to test whether it would be possible in practice to generate the energy for a number of renovated homes with a new home, a case study was carried out. At the moment, the energetic ratio is approximately 1 to 1. That means that one new home can generate the energy for one renovated home, assuming an all-electric variant. The aim is now to improve the 1-to-1 ratio to a ratio of 1-to-3: one new home for every three renovated homes. In order to achieve this, further research will be necessary, which will have to include the expertise of third parties.

Opportunities and benefits

The aim of neighbourhood revitalization is to improve the neighbourhood as a whole. As mentioned before, one of the benefits of this approach - renovation as well as building new homes - is that the monoculture will be broken up and the quality of the overall supply of homes will be improved. For housing corporations, this means they will be able to charge higher rents, whereas the costs of living will remain the same for residents, because their energy costs will decrease. In addition, the residents will enjoy an increased comfort of living. Also, it will be easier to move up the housing ladder within the neighbourhood, due to the greater variety of homes. However, not all corporations and residents will benefit from this approach. Because corporations are no longer allowed to invest in non-controlled rental accommodation, particular developments have come to a standstill. The market should pick up on the demand for non-controlled rental homes, but building plans are suspended because some of the neighbourhoods containing these homes are just too bad. Improving a neighbourhood as a whole may give a new boost to these plans.

 

In addition, there are benefits to society that are less easy to measure and cannot always be expressed in terms of money. For example, think of the environmental benefits created by the use of sustainable energy. Also, redeveloping of public space creates room for other functions, areas for common use and room for flora, fauna and water. This relieves the strain on the sewage system, reducing the chance of flooding and associated damage caused by extreme weather.

Problems and challenges

Even though we believe the self-supplying neighbourhood is the future, there are several obstacles to overcome before it can become a reality. This is partly caused by current laws and regulations, partly by the current state of technology, but also by the behaviour of residents themselves.

Energy generation, distribution and storage at the neighbourhood level

One of the challenges of making a neighbourhood energy-neutral is energy storage. On a yearly basis, it is quite possible to generate enough energy for a home and its users by using photovoltaics (PV). However, this energy is only generated during the day, and mainly in the summer months. Good storage is necessary to be able to use your own, stored energy at night and in winter.

 

The necessary storage capacity can be decreased by creating a better balance between supply and demand. With the help of a Smart Grid, it is possible to automatically improve the balance between energy supply and demand. However, the 1998 Electricity Act contains regulations with regard to the installation of energy grids and the sale of energy. In principle, only grid managers are allowed to install energy grids. Apart from that, the market for producing, trading and supplying energy is essentially free, however, a supply permit is required for supplying energy to low-volume users (anyone with a connection to the grid of 3x80 A or below). In addition, the used energy is normally taxed. Here, too, an exception is possible for balancing and generating renewable energy or thermal energy. In the case of the Dutch postcoderoos-regulation, all members of an existing or especially founded owner-occupiers' association or corporation, who usually share the same postal code (hence the name), qualify for a reduced tax rate. These are matters that need to be taken into consideration in case of a possible pilot project.

Partners necessary for follow-up

Initially, the study considered the situation where property is in the hands of a housing corporation. However, as a result of the 2015 Housing Act, corporations are bound by stricter regulations than before. Corporations must focus on building, renting out and maintaining social housing and specific social real estate, as well as on carrying out a limited number of tasks with regard to liveability. The corporations' target group are households with a yearly income of € 34,678 or less (2014 level).

 

In order to create more differentiation in the neighbourhood, this means that additional parties are needed to finance and possibly exploit the real estate properties for higher-income households. In addition, a good optimization also requires the knowledge of other advisers, such as engineering advisers, building contractors, and grid managers.

 

This study is a first step on the road towards the revitalized, energy-neutral neighbourhood. As we mentioned before, optimization is necessary. In addition, problems and challenges have to be made concrete, so that we can look for solutions together with our partners. Eventually, we want to test those ideas in practice in a pilot project.