'Technology will make sustainability possible'

The Netherlands is undergoing a major overhaul. The aim: a CO2 reduction of no less than 95 percent by 2050. This necessitates extensive sustainability of the millions of homes and offices. Diederik Samsom, chairman of the Climate Table Built Environment and speaker during the Bits, Bricks & Behavior Conference, is optimistic: “The technological developments this decade are spectacular. That almost makes up for the last decade, which was quite depressing.”

By: Dimitri Reijerman

The consultations at the Climate Table for the Built Environment are numerous stakeholders, including environmental organizations, municipalities, housing associations, construction and installation companies, and trade unions. According to the former PvdA leader, it quickly became clear during the negotiations that technology will play a key role in actually achieving the stated CO2 reductions: “Technology will play an enormous role, that will be clear. If you want buildings to require less energy, you will have to design them smarter. By heating smarter, for example. There is incredible progress to be made in non-residential construction in particular, especially in social real estate. Think of schools, hospitals and healthcare institutions. Because the first estimates show a fairly disturbing picture of the way in which those buildings are heated,” says Samsom.

He gives a practical example: “The famous example is unfortunately not out of the blue: a school that organizes a parents' evening and has to heat the entire school in the evening to warm one room, because no other thermostatic distinction can be made. Or schools that are heated during the weekend while they are not used at all. And those are the most rudimentary examples.”

In addition to what Samsom describes as 'doing away with stupid technology', the chairman of the Climate Table also mentions the need for smart innovation with the far-reaching electrification of buildings: “We have the need to properly manage electricity production and demand. to coordinate with each other. Otherwise, we will have to strengthen the electricity grids to such an extent that making them more sustainable is not a feasible option anyway. Consider, for example, the use of blockchain technology.”

Pace

According to the government's climate plans, the built environment will be renovated on a large scale in the coming decades. Samsom states that we should not be deterred by the scale of this 'national renovation': “It obviously sounds very intense: a thousand homes per day. But if we want to make all buildings more sustainable over the next 30 years, this means that we will renovate every building once every 30 years. If you don't, you need to think twice about what you are doing with your house. A thousand homes per day, calculated in working days, is 200,000 per year. But we also renovate 400,000 bathrooms per year.”

Moreover, the former politician believes that the plans to phase out the use of natural gas are a logical consequence of making the built environment more sustainable: “Gas-free is the consequence of the fact that you need much less energy to heat homes and business premises. As soon as you can heat a home with water of only 55 degrees, so you do not need water at 80 degrees from the central heating boiler to rush through the radiators, then you have many more options than natural gas in a well-insulated home. ”

Cabinet plans

When Samsom looks at the cabinet plans drawn up after the draft Climate Agreement, he is satisfied: according to the chairman, the proposals from the sector table have been adopted almost one-on-one by the government parties. The negotiations at the Built Environment table were also considerably less difficult than those at the Industry table, for example, says Samsom: “It was relatively easy for us. Dutch society is ready for it. The Climate Agreement would never have emerged, as a kind of Gallic village, in a society that is moving in a completely different direction. This was also evident at the table.”

And the Netherlands, especially after the climate agreements concluded in Paris, is certainly no exception, according to Samsom: “You see the same trend everywhere in the world. Also in the US, where Trump has sung about the coal mines. Never before have so many coal mines closed in America in the past two years as now.”

Nuclear energy

When Samsom looks at his own field - he studied technical physics with a major in nuclear physics - he does not see a new nuclear power plant being built in the Netherlands anytime soon: “No subject has been discussed as much as nuclear energy. It is a misconception that politicians do not embrace it. Politicians said many years ago that anyone who wants to build a nuclear power plant in the Netherlands is welcome. The problem lies in the fact that the business community is not showing any interest. And there's a reason for that: it's too expensive.”

He continues: “Further developing nuclear energy has now become so complicated that it is comparable to the aircraft industry. That can actually only be done by so-called statewide actors. A lot is still happening in China, India and America. The consensus is that we could welcome a new type of nuclear power plant in 2040 or 2050, possibly a thorium power plant, but the tragedy is that this will come too late to solve our climate problem.”

Optimism

Looking back at the Climate Table - in which Samsom will continue to play a role for at least another two years -, the plans that have been drawn up and the expressed ambitions of the cabinet, the chairman sounds cautiously optimistic: “Despite our temporary backlog in specifically sustainable energy, we do have a relatively clean industry in the Netherlands. This is partly the result of strict environmental regulations. These were already controversial when they were introduced. And the business community came up with the classic threat that they would throw in the towel and move abroad. But the consequence of these measures is that the Netherlands has an exceptionally well and efficiently operating economy. I think the Climate Agreement will go a step further.”

“But as humanity we have traditionally started late in solving an existential issue; we'll make it exciting again. I'm optimistic that it can work. We have been in front of hot fires before, but this is the hottest yet.”

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Photo Samson: PvdA