At 15:02 2-7-01 -0500, Dan Minette wrote:
> > Sun boilers turned out to be more popular than I expected, BTW. By the end
> > of 1999, there were 42.500 sun boilers installed in the Netherlands. The
> > growth rate has stabilized to ~8,500 additional installations per year.
>The
> > goal is to have 1 million sun boilers installed by the year 2020.
> >
> > Hm. That growth rate will have to go up dramatically, or else we're not
> > gonna make it... I suppose most of that growth will come from installing
> > sun boilers in new houses (lot cheaper too: NLG 3,500).
> >
>
>But, aren't new houses being built now? Will more be built per year in the
>future?
Of course new houses are being built now; we are always building new
houses. Given that the population of The Netherlands is still increasing,
and the number of single-person households is also going up, I think it's
safe to assume there will also be an increase in the number of houses built
per year.
> > I do expect to see a substantial increase in the number of these
> > energy-efficient houses, though.
> >
>
>Well, now that natural gas prices have fallen by a factor of 3, and oil
>prices are back in line with the prices of the mid-90s, I don't.
Maybe you won't see an increase in the US, but I'm convinced it will happen
here. First, the Dutch government has made a number one priority of
promoting energy conservation, energy-efficient building, energy from
renewable sources and stuff like that -- something that can't really be
said about the current US government (or previous ones for that matter).
Second, there is the difference in energy prices between our countries. If
the car fuel prices are any indication, energy is a *lot* cheaper in the US
than it is here. As a result, the incentive to be energy-efficient is a lot
bigger here: we're talking several hundreds of guilders per year!
Just so I compare prices: how much do you pay for 1 kWh of electricity and
1 m^3 of natural gas? And how much in fixed costs?
Jeroen
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