Saving Energy

Smart Ways to Save

Saving energy means using less electricity and gas at home. This lowers your energy bill and helps protect the climate.

A lot of energy in the home goes toward heating, hot water, and electrical appliances. By using these more efficiently, you can often easily save energy without sacrificing comfort.

What can I do do?

Insulate and Save on Heating Costs

Insulation is the most important step in saving energy. A well-insulated home loses less heat. You’ll need to heat it less, which will immediately lower your energy bill.

There are several ways to insulate your home:

• Insulate your roof, floor, and exterior walls.
• Insulate the crawl space, attic, or loft.
• Replace single-pane glass with HR++ or triple-pane glass.
• Insulate seams and cracks.
• Use draft stoppers or door closers.
• Insulate pipes and heating pipes.

Insulation isn't just good for your wallet—it's also good for the environment. You'll use less energy and reduce CO₂ emissions.

Environmentally Friendly Insulation

Are you planning to install insulation? If so, be mindful of protected animals such as bats and birds. Hire a certified installer and follow the guidelines for nature-friendly insulation: .

When insulating cavity walls, you may encounter bats, house sparrows, and swifts. They use cavity walls and roof edges as roosting or nesting sites. In Hellevoetsluis, you can use the area-specific exemption for this purpose.

In Brielle and Westvoorne, the national guidelines for nature-friendly insulation apply.

Insulating Historic Buildings

For more information on insulation methods for historic buildings, visit the website of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands at . Regulations you must follow when making a historic building more sustainable can be found on the government’s website for local regulations at . 

Other Ways to Save on Heating Costs

• Set the heat to a maximum of 19°C. 
• Heat only the room you're in. 
• Keep doors closed to keep the heat inside. 
• Turn down the heat when you go to sleep or leave the house (15–18°C). 
• Use less hot water—for example, by taking shorter showers. 

Save on Electricity with Solar Panels

With solar panels, you can generate your own electricity. The sun is a renewable energy source that will never run out. Even in the Netherlands, solar panels produce enough energy, even on cloudy days.

The benefits of solar panels:

• You'll save on your energy bill. 
• You're using free solar energy. 
• You'll reduce your CO₂ emissions. 
• Solar panels last an average of 25 years.

As of 2023, you no longer have to pay VAT on solar panels. This makes them more affordable.

Is your roof suitable?

Would you like to know if your roof is suitable and how much energy solar panels can generate? Then visit the Milieu Centraal website at .

Net Metering Program

Do you feed electricity back into the grid? If so, you currently receive the same rate for it as you pay (net metering). This program will end in 2027. After that, you will receive less for the electricity you feed back into the grid.

For more information, visit the Milieu Centraa websiteat l.

Do you need a permit?

In most cases, you do not need a permit for solar panels. Do you own a historic building or live in a protected area? If so, different rules apply. Check this on the Omgevingsloket website at or contact your local municipality.

Other Ways to Save on Electricity

• Replace old appliances with energy-efficient models. 
• Don't run appliances (washing machine, dishwasher) until they're full. 
• Select the eco program to save energy. 
• Use the dryer as little as possible and hang your laundry out to dry. 
• Turn off devices completely when you're not using them (unplug them from the outlet). 

What do we do?

We are working toward the transition to renewable energy. We are reducing CO₂ emissions and switching to clean energy sources such as solar and wind.

New Energy and the Energy Transition

• We are implementing the Climate Agreement and working toward a significant reduction in CO₂ emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. 
• We are committed to transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power.   
• We are actively seeking alternatives to natural gas for heating homes and buildings.

Regional Cooperation

• We are working with the municipality of Nissewaard on the energy transition (the shift to renewable energy sources) in Voorne-Putten.
• Together with other parties and stakeholders, we are setting out our vision in the Duurzaam Voorne-Putten 2040 Roadmap.

Regional Energy Strategy (RES).

• Voorne aan Zee part of the Rotterdam-The Hague RES region. Within this region, we are exploring opportunities for onshore renewable energy. 
• Together, we are identifying suitable locations for sustainable energy generation and assessing the available space. We are also exploring how we can implement the plans in a way that is socially acceptable and financially feasible. Finally, we are working together on solutions for regional heat supply.

Solar and Wind Energy

• We use the sun and wind to generate renewable energy.
• For example, we're working on local solar and wind energy projects.