Teunissen, I. (2023) From natural gas to district heating. Master thesis.
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Abstract
The national Dutch government has set the goal of disconnecting 95% of households from natural gas by 2050. The country, however, continues to rely heavily on natural gas, particularly in the housing sector. As a result, a system conversion within the housing sector is required to transition from natural gas to alternative heating sources, also known as the heat transition. With the current Dutch regulations (July 2023), homeowners are critical players in the execution of the heat transition. As a result, the Dutch municipalities must encourage homeowners to disconnect from natural gas in order to meet the 2050 objective. To do this, new municipal strategies are essential. Therefore, this thesis investigates the research question: how can the municipality of Rotterdam stimulate homeowners to disconnect from natural gas in Reyeroord Rotterdam, the Netherlands? The case study method is the foundation of the thesis. The case study is Reyeroord, a neighbourhood in Rotterdam where a pilot project has been implemented to engage homeowners in the heat transition. Within the pilot project, a district heating system (DHS) is constructed containing residual heat from the harbour in Rotterdam. To provide a comprehensive municipal strategy, the impact of various contextual, attitudinal, and socio-demographic factors on homeowners’ decision-making to connect to DHS is analysed. In addition, the interventions used in the pilot project were studied. The analysis contains a survey (N = 116), interviews (N = 6), and internal documents containing the analyses of a prior survey conducted by the project team of Reyeroord. The findings of the thesis reveal that the following factors discourage homeowners from connecting to DHS: the high investment costs, the nuisance of construction, low trust in the municipality, very low trust in the energy provider, and a lack of felt urgency. Whereas the results indicate that these factors stimulate homeowners to connect to DHS: a high level of perceived knowledge, strong biospheric values, positive effects on climate change, and potential energy bill savings. It is concluded in the research that Dutch municipalities can motivate homeowners to engage in the heat transition by implementing a neighbourhood approach that contains the following steps: 1. Get to know the neighbourhood 2. Provide a good information provision and consider a wide range of personal values 3. Implement personal attention and provide tailor made advice 4. Offer a temporary financial incentive Furthermore, it would be beneficial if the national government implemented regulations to increase homeowners' sense of urgency. As a result, more homeowners would be motivated to participate in the heating transition. The results of this thesis contribute to the body of literature on homeowners' participation in the heat transition. Furthermore, the findings of this study can help municipalities accelerate the heat transition in order to meet the 2050 climate goals.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Degree programme: | Environmental & Infrastructure Planning |
| Date Deposited: | 26 Jul 2023 06:54 |
| Last Modified: | 26 Jul 2023 06:54 |
| URI: | https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/4302 |
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