Local thermal energy transition in the time of energy crisis: an empirical investigation on challenges, opportunities and energy security of the educated Dutch households

In this session, Javanshir Fouladvand, member of the Sustainable Behaviour group at Utrecht University, will present his work on Local thermal energy transition in the time of energy crisis: an empirical investigation on challenges, opportunities and energy security of the educated Dutch households. See abstract below.

The European energy system is undergoing a drastic change, focusing on reducing natural gas consumption and import. European households responsible for 25 % of final energy consumption, mainly based on natural gas, could play a significant role in such a transition. However, the energy crisis and its influence on energy prices and consumption challenged the local thermal energy transition. To understand the impact of such a crisis on local thermal energy transition, particularly in the Netherlands, two (online) workshops took place at the beginning of 2024 with 17 highly educated Dutch households to share their experiences, challenges and strategies to address the local thermal energy transition. The workshops were conducted in two parts, including qualitative and quantitative questions. These two parts, questions and insights are structured using the 4As energy security concept (i.e., availability, affordability, accessibility and acceptability).

The initial results delineated that most of the participants faced considerable challenges regarding the availability and affordability of energy during the energy crisis, while accessibility and acceptability were less of a challenge. They overcome such challenges effectively by reducing their energy consumption and installing sustainable energy technologies (e.g., solar photovoltaic and heat pumps). The top three most frustrating challenges are (i) surge in energy prices, (ii) costs of renewable thermal energy technologies and (iii) lack of information and skills while they believe the easiest challenges to be solved are (i) lack of information and skills, (ii) low availability of renewable thermal energy alternatives, and (iii)  surge in energy prices. Finally, the participants indicated “demand reduction through retrofitting buildings” and “implementing collective renewable thermal energy systems” as the best strategy for local thermal energy transition. The results and insights are translated into concrete recommendations for different actors, particularly policy-makers and households, to facilitate the local thermal energy transition without undermining energy security during an energy crisis.