The report ‘Building for the Future: Developing Homes with Sustainable Materials’ analyses housing construction in the Netherlands, while explicitly aligning its assessment with European Union policy on building energy performance and carbon reduction.
Although the empirical data and case studies are Dutch, the document consistently refers to EU legislation, in particular the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD IV), which will require Member States to manage carbon emissions from new homes from 2030 onwards through a Whole Life Carbon approach.
One of the central themes is the relationship between material use and energy efficiency. The report notes that buildings account for around 40% of energy consumption and 36% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union. In the Netherlands, it identifies low-installation, building as a strategy to reduce emissions, stating that heating, cooling, and ventilation systems generate about 10% of a dwelling’s carbon emissions and represent between 20% and 40% of construction costs.
The study also links this approach to operational performance. By relying more on insulation, airtight construction, solar-oriented design, and shading, buildings can reduce their dependence on large technical systems, leading to lower energy use during occupation.
In addition, the report underlines that installations currently have an average service life of 20 years. Extending this lifespan is presented as a way to reduce both environmental impact and long-term energy-related costs, an issue not yet addressed in the current Dutch NZEB standards.
The analysis concludes with four sets of recommendations aimed at preparing the Netherlands for the transition to sustainable housing construction within the EU framework: harmonising national rules with European policy through a roadmap aligned with the EPBD IV, introducing pricing mechanisms including a levy on homes that fail to meet sustainability targets, updating procedures and regulations to remove barriers to sustainable materials, and preparing the construction chain through collaboration, skills development and innovation so that energy-efficient, low-installation and bio-based building methods can be deployed at scale.