Using less gas in our homes
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 1 September 2022
⏱️ 19 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
The Netherlands has long been almost totally reliant on gas to heat people's homes. But as Europe tries to wean itself off domestic gas, something made more urgent by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and by soaring energy prices, the country is trying to lead the way in tackling the necessary energy transition.
Matthew Kenyon hears from Michaela Holl of think-tank Agora Energiewende on the Netherlands’ political strategy and from Energiesprong’s Sanne de Wit about their innovative approach to renovation.
The Hague City Council’s Astrid Kennis talks about what we can all do in our homes to improve insulation and pay for the work that’s necessary. And Ruben Buna Heslinga, of Dutch housing corporation Mitros, talks about a current renovation project in Utrecht. We also hear from Lesley, a tenant in one of the newly refashioned buildings, on what she expects of her energy bills now.
Presenter / producer: Matthew Kenyon Image: an apartment block in Utrecht being renovated to meet new environmental standards; Credit: Matthew Kenyon
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Untold Legends, Aura, a podcast from the BBC World Service and BBC Sounds, explores the remarkable story of a forgotten sporting legend, ORA Washington. |
| 0:12.0 | Search for Untold Legends wherever you found this podcast. |
| 0:19.2 | Hello, this is Matthew Kenyon with Business Daily here on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:24.5 | Today we're looking at Europe's drive to come off domestic gas. |
| 0:28.8 | How we heat our homes and cook our food has a huge impact collectively, |
| 0:33.3 | but the work that needs to be done to wean the continent off fossil fuels in the home is bit by bit, literally house by house. |
| 0:41.9 | We see it now for the first time, basically how absurd even it is, how we have come to live in our homes. |
| 0:50.4 | Be prepared for the future because we will stop the gas. |
| 0:56.3 | I didn't see anything and no one's ever sent me a bill for gas, |
| 0:59.6 | so I'm assuming it's all gone. |
| 1:01.5 | So how can we make a real impact? |
| 1:04.5 | And what effect does the cost of living crisis have on our bid to tackle the problem? |
| 1:09.2 | That's Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 1:16.2 | Like millions of people around Europe, when I want to boil a kettle, cook my dinner, |
| 1:20.9 | or in particular heat my home during the winter, I'm still reliant on gas. A gas boiler in my |
| 1:27.1 | basement is still doing what it's done for years, |
| 1:30.0 | providing hot water for antique radiators across our shared apartment block in the Dutch city of the Hague. |
| 1:36.3 | It's old-fashioned and increasingly expensive, and it's going to have to change here |
| 1:41.3 | and in the 90% of homes in the Netherlands still dependent on gas, |
| 1:46.1 | even as the country moves away from the fossil fuel which has sustained it for decades. |
| 1:51.5 | It's a massive endeavour and I would say we are looking a little bit at the Netherlands |
| 1:56.1 | because they have a little bit of an advance when it comes to because they basically |
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