----- Original Message -----
From: "J. van Baardwijk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, July 02, 2001 5:42 PM
Subject: Re: Bill Moyers Reports: Earth on Edge
> 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.
>
Why, since the official site states that the growth rate should steadily
shrink. Thus, the rate of building new houses should also decrease.
> 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).
>
That's true. But, for the last decade, the per capita increase in Dutch use
of energy is greater than it was for the US. Why should the next 10 years
be different. Remember, the energy used in the Netherlands increased by
3.5% between 1999 and 2000, according to official Dutch sources.
> 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?
>
I just got my natural gas bill. The base cost is $10/month, with about $1
per hundred cubic feet of gas on top of that. That is about $0.35 per cubic
meter.
Dan M.
