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IMPORTANT: Where we're
at...Hi guys, Thanks
for bearing with us in recent weeks as we've
looked to raise the necessary funds to keep SFB in
business. The lowdown is that we've managed to
raise around £300/month: just about enough to keep
the show on the road, but sadly not enough to
warrant any increase in our proprietary
journalism. So, for now, we'll keep the weekly
digest going and try to fund the occasional
feature or photo essay through co-publishing
agreements. But, as ever, the message
remains: if you get any value out of the
service we provide, we hope you will consider
becoming one of our sustaining patrons – for
whatever little you could afford to wing our way
each month. Our deal will also remain on the
table: if we cross the £500/month-mark, we'll
publish a new longread or photo essay every week
along with the newsletter; and if we hit
£1000/month, we'll launch a new solutions-focused
podcast. And, of course, a massive,
heartfelt thanks to all you patrons for your kind
and generous support! Ollie Founder
& Editor-in-Chief, Struggles From
Below | |
In
our top read this week, BBC Future's Laura Cole
looks at the Netherlands' bid to wean itself
off its natural-gas addiction.
The heat
transition has arrived in the Netherlands. The
nation is among many starting a drastic shift to
low or zero-carbon alternatives to fossil fuels
for heating homes. The Netherlands has among the
lowest share of renewables in its total energy use
in Europe: this transition will mean a complete
overhaul of its heating system. With some of the
most ambitious climate targets for its residential
heating sector, the nation is now hoping to set
itself up as a climate frontrunner in this area.
At the heart of the heat transition debate is the
question: what can replace the gas
boiler?
The country has proposed a raft of
ambitious heat policies under its 2019 Climate
Act, which aims to achieve an overall 49%
reduction in CO2 emissions across its economy by
2030 compared with 1990 levels. At the moment, 38%
of energy consumed in the Netherlands is used to
heat buildings, with half of this going to homes.
The government ruled in 2018 that all new houses
must not be connected to the gas grid, starting
that same year. By 2030, 1.5 million existing
homes must have changed their heat source. And all
buildings in the Netherlands must be using a
low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels by
2050.
Communities across the country are
now faced with deciding what to replace this
natural gas with. Loppersum village is one of 50
"natural gas-free districts" who are piloting
alternative low-carbon technologies, supported by
€400m ($460m/£340m) in government funding up to
2030. With the government's initial goal of
converting 50,000 houses by 2028, the government
hopes that these pilots will show the country how
to meet its goal of getting every house off fossil
fuels by 2050. All 8 million of them.
It will be an immense shift, says
Casper Tigchelaar, senior researcher on energy in
the built environment at the Dutch Organisation
for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). "Five years
ago this kind of scenario was just a
hypothetical." | |
That's it for today, folks. If you're
enjoying this newsletter, please do forward it on to any friends who
might be into it. All the
best, Ollie Founder &
Editor-in-Chief, Struggles From
Below | | |
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2019 Struggles From Below, All rights
reserved.
Our mailing address
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