Keep many buildings inefficient, do not retrofit!

A research of CE Delft of the road towards an energy neutral built environment (BE) of the Netherlands (NL) in 2050 really gave me some essential insights. They looked at the BE in a way I never saw before: they categorized NL in a certain amount of typologies of neighbourhoods. So now, one knows what type of neighbourhood, with certain characteristics such as density and type of buildings, are the most common.

Then, when this is clear, one can research what sustainable interventions (eg. retrofitting buildings towards energyneutral buildings through isolation and solar cells roofing or implementing 'heating districts') is most cost-effective for what type of neighbourhood.

As it turns out, a very large part of the BE are medium to high density areas, of which heating district are the most cost-effective sustainable intervention. Heating districts require a large (building)heating demand to be economically feasible. Therefore, we should not retrofit buildings within these areas, so as to give rise to heating districts. 

This research was quite explanatory, it should be expanded. It should be picked up by all main institutions. Energy transition / sustainability media should give it top priority attention. This way of thirst looking at where, what intervention is most cost-effective is super important. Do not just implement retrofitting project so as to demonstrate sustainable projects; it should still always be part of a bigger whole!