Energy Transition in The Dutch Dwelling Stock: Exploring the Extent of Inertia Against Change

The residential sector accounts for 30% of the total energy consumed by all sectors on average worldwide. This significant share makes an energy transition in the residential sector one of the most important frontiers of sustainability transitions. Netherlands aims to achieve a remarkable reduction in the energy consumption in residential buildings with policies mainly aiming at new constructions, and little attention is being paid to the existing dwelling stock. However, the existing dwelling stock creates an inertia against a transition. Although this is a widely accepted issue, the extent of such an inertia has not been analyzed explicitly. In that respect, we aim to conduct a preliminary study in order to demonstrate the importance of the existing dwelling stock, and the inertia it can cause during an energy transition process. Besides, we also aim to explore effectives of certain policy options that can alleviate this inertia. For that purpose, a simulation model is developed and initialized based on the Dutch housing system. The set of experiments discussed in the paper provides a better understanding about this inertia, as well as what needs to be done for achieving significant progress in a residential energy transition