Citizen-led initiative to save energy in South Holland announced as a finalist in the 2023 European Sustainable Energy Awards
Through a network of volunteers, Together with the Neighbours has developed a replicable model for community members to share information on energy efficiency resulting in significant savings.
During its ten years of operations, Together with the Neighbours, in the Netherlands, has triggered investments from home owners of approximately EUR 2.3 million into residential energy-saving measures. This has led to over 1.1 tonnes of annual CO2 savings, the equivalent emissions to the average electricity use of 70 Dutch households.
‘We want to reduce the amount of fossil fuels used in civil society, but we also want to improve people’s income and stimulate them to have a more comfortable house. This all comes together in our projects,’ explains Project Manager and volunteer William Nederpelt.
The initiative, which started in the Dutch city of Dordrecht by Drechtse Stromen, relies on a group of approximately 20 volunteers, many of whom are retired engineers.
‘Our volunteers are on top, and they are supported by the board. Not the other way around,’ says William.
At the start, the group pooled their knowledge together to advise those in their communities on how to reduce energy consumption in their homes while increasing thermal comfort. This eventually led to recruiting and training more volunteers, organising neighbourhood workshops and publishing a website to share information and offer specific solutions for energy savings.
Now, the work is more structured, with volunteers regularly holding so-called ‘sustainability cafés’, where they meet with people from the neighbourhood to discuss energy issues. Following their initial conversation, they meet again to develop a plan on how to tackle the energy-related issues in their homes.
Conny Taheil, Project Manager and volunteer, describes the group’s aim of having the concept replicated in other cities and neighbourhoods: ‘We hope that our volunteers share their knowledge outside of the city, with their families and relatives, and spread our method further. Because if people are using our concept in another city, we don’t have to be there, they can do it themselves.’
Drechtse Stromen’s model is also available in six other villages in the region. Next to the city of Dordrecht they do work in Zwijndrecht, Alblasserdam, Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, Sliedrecht, Papendrecht and Hardinxveld-Giessendam.
William and Conny see their initiative in the broader context of decarbonisation goals: ‘Together with the Neighbours is a movement where people find each other and do something about sustainability with a focus on the energy transition and energy savings.’
The project, which is partially funded by the individual municipalities in which it operates as well as the province of South Holland, is an example of how bottom-up approaches can deliver significant impact towards climate and energy goals. It serves as a model for other communities and municipalities to follow, tapping into the experience of volunteers and knowledgeable citizen groups, such as retired engineers and other professionals. This initiative promotes the EU’s energy policy principle of ‘energy efficiency first’ and directly supports the Energy Efficiency Directive, the European Green Deal and REPowerEU Plan.
Together with the Neighbours is one of three finalists shortlisted for the European Sustainable Energy Awards 2023 in the Local Energy Action category. The award recognises implemented sustainable energy actions, driven by a group of citizens or consumers, which contribute to the clean energy transition at the community or local level. It also inspires and motivates others to implement similar steps for an EU-wide deployment, resulting in economic and environmental benefits. The other finalists in this category are KLIK (Križevci Laboratory for Innovation in Climate) from Croatia and a public self-consumption collective from the Balearic Islands.
KLIK is an energy community in Croatia bringing clean energy to citizens. The Balearic Islands' self-consumption collective is tackling energy poverty through the installation of PV systems on publicly owned infrastructure.
Europe’s best clean energy projects and leaders celebrated in the EUSEW Awards
The European Sustainable Energy Awards (EUSEW Awards) recognise outstanding individuals and projects for their innovation and efforts in energy efficiency and renewables. Prizes will be awarded in three categories: Innovation, Local Energy Action, and Woman in Energy. Winners are announced during the EUSEW Awards Ceremony in June 2023 in the presence of European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson and a high-level jury.
The winners will be decided by an online public vote, which is open now until 11 June.
EUSEW 2023
The European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW), the biggest annual event dedicated to renewables and efficient energy use in Europe, takes place on 20 - 22 June under the theme 'Accelerating the clean energy transition – towards lower bills and greater skills'. The event will bring thousands of sustainability stakeholders together to explore policy topics related to protecting European consumers from price volatility and sharpening their skills to produce and save energy within the current energy context.
Registrations for onsite attendance in Brussels and online participation are now open.
For interview requests with the EUSEW Awards finalists or additional media information, please contact [email protected]