Challenges

Neighbourhoods without natural gas

Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations

The Dutch neighourboods must be free of natural gas to achieve the climate goal of ‘Paris’. Privately owned houses are a big challenge in the Netherlands, because the transition demands a lot from the homeowner. The barrier to take action is also diverse: no money, no awareness, no need or no idea what to do, are frequently heard reasons.

That has created the following question: How do you ensure that ‘free of natural gas’ is wanted by a homeowner with a modest income?

Consequences of the problem: Homeowners do nothing or wait too long. The result of this is that the energy transition will take longer and will lead to higher costs (in connection with maintain in).

Challenge
Develop an innovative solution to provoke(inspire) homeowners to take action to make their homes free of natural gas.

What are we looking for?

  • We are looking for a product or service that allows for behavioural changes of homeowners towards living without natural gas. This is possible, but not necessarily, via the track of awareness.
  • Within the program for neighbourhoods without natural gas, around twenty experimental gardens/ neighbourhoods are used annually, in which pilot municipalities can test new methods.
  • If the pilots are successful, it can be scaled up to other municipalities. In that case, the BZK network can be used for the startup.
  • Politically, the climate and construction without natural gas are in the public eye. The market potential for the developement of the product/ service is therefore large and will only increase in the coming years.

Requirements for application

In addition to the above, we are also curious about the motivation to participate in the Startup in Residence program and thus to further develop the concept or product in a government environment.