Natural gas-free Leudal 2050
At the national level, the agreement has been made to be natural gas-free by 2050 at the latest. The main reason is that natural gas is a fossil, finite fuel that we cannot continue using forever. Moreover, extracting and burning fossil fuels has serious negative effects on the environment, climate and people.
The decision has also been made to soon stop pumping natural gas from Groningen. This means that if we continue to use natural gas, we will be more expensive and also become dependent on other countries such as the U.S. and Russia.
In the coming years, the first neighborhoods in the Netherlands will go off natural gas. This always involves several houses and often entire neighborhoods. Municipalities, housing corporations, grid operators, neighborhood initiatives and other parties will take up these kinds of projects together with residents.
A Regional Energy Strategy (RES) is being developed from the North and Central Limburg Region, and this RES is also responsible for devising regional heat strategies. Several scenarios are conceivable, all of which may play a role to a greater or lesser extent in the medium term.
Among other things, the role of hydrogen, solar water heaters, heat pumps, heat grids, cogeneration, and thermal storage will be explored.
What does this mean for residents of Leudal?
There are several opportunities in Leudal regarding natural gas-free alternatives. Biogas is a cost-effective alternative, which can easily be generated using, for example, manure digesters. This would also mean that the existing gas infrastructure can largely remain in place, and people can keep their gas stoves.
A future solution could also lie in the water of the Meuse River. This is basically free, and can be used through heat storage and a heat network to cool houses in summer and heat houses in winter.
The municipality of Leudal, like all other municipalities in the Netherlands, is faced with the task of drawing up a Heat Transition Vision by the end of 2021, which will outline the strategy Leudal will adopt in order to eventually get all cores off of natural gas. A subsequent District Implementation Plan must then make concrete which neighborhood or core will be off of natural gas and when.
How the municipality approaches this may vary by neighborhood and core. There is collaboration with resident initiatives, housing corporations, grid managers, and other organizations and companies. All of these parties work with residents to find the best sustainable solution that is affordable for everyone.
Perhaps the most important question there is about natural gas-free living: will I be saddled with all the high costs later? The short answer: if all goes well, no. Several places in the Netherlands are now investigating how we can actually make that happen.
Housing cost neutral
The Climate Agreement states that the Netherlands will phase out natural gas by 2050. It also states the principle that this will be cost-neutral for residents. The idea is that as a resident you will not be more expensive per month than you are now with natural gas.
In practice, though, that can still mean different things. For example, do you need to invest and will you earn that back with a low energy bill? And can you borrow money for that? Or will you be connected to a heat network and pay monthly to the heat company?
You can choose to live natural gas-free yourself because you want to, for example with a heat pump. But you don't have to yet. The municipality has the responsibility to eventually make all neighborhoods natural gas-free by 2050. So in many cases it makes sense to participate at the moment plans are actually being made for your entire neighborhood. That saves a lot of research, costs and perhaps worries.
Working with your neighbors pays off
Don't feel like waiting for plans to come your way, but would like to work together? It is often advantageous to work with a number of neighbors on insulation measures. Moreover, you can divide tasks and not everyone has to investigate which company can do it.