Environmental policies and efforts in social housing: the Netherlands

Abstract

Keywords: building stock, environmental policy, housing associations, management, social housing, sustainable built environment, the Netherlands Bien qu'il existe des directives gouvernementales progressives et que l'on soit conscient des questions de durabilité, le progrès en matière de gestion durable au sein du secteur du logement social a été assez lent. Une analyse et une étude de marché portant sur la gestion du logement durable menées par des associations hollandaises pour le logement indiquent les domaines et les organisations où les principes, les instructions et les pratiques sont limités ou absents. Des tendances longitudinales se dégagent sur la base d'autres études menées en 1993, 1998 et 2000 et qui comparent les stratégies nationales de cinq pays de l'Union Européenne (Pays-Bas, Allemagne, Royaume-Uni, France et Finlande). Les résultats montrent que les efforts en matière de gestion durable sont mal orientés, l'accent étant mis sur la fourniture de bâtiments nouveaux et non sur leur exploitation et leur maintenance. L'article recense plusieurs obstacles aux niveaux politique et stratégique, notamment en ce qui concerne les coûts perçus de la mise en oeuvre d'une gestion de l'environnement, le manque de demande du marché et la capture médiocre des bénéfices. Des recommandations particulières à l'attention du gouvernement, des associations pour le logement, des occupants reposent sur ces conclusions-; il faudrait notamment élargir le coeur des problèmes à la durabilité, mettre l'accent sur le parc immobilier existant, avoir recours davantage à des accords volontaires, reconnaître les différentes capacités parmi les associations pour le logement et susciter la demande du marché.Mots clés : parc immobilier, politique environnementale, associations pour le logement, gestion, logement social, cadre bâti durable, Pays-Bas

Energy Saving Potential Due to Refurbishment of Federal Public Housing in the UAE

“…This means that even if all new buildings have zero CO2 emissions, the older inefficient building stock will cause the CO2 emission levels to remain unacceptably high. Thus refurbishment of existing buildings seems to be the most practical way of reducing CO2 emissions in the short to medium term [4]. The maturity of refurbishment technologies, practices and relatively low costs, makes refurbishment a better choice for reducing CO2 emissions compared to using more active, and expensive, renewable energy strategies to meet the high demand of inefficient buildings.…”

Fiscal instruments in sustainable housing policies in the EU and the accession countries

“…When consumers are not interested in investing in environmental measures, subsidies are the main instrument to promote sustainable housing by market actors. In the Netherlands 93% of the housing associations indicate that subsidies and other fiscal measures encourage them to implement environmental measures (Sunikka and Boon, 2002). Two-thirds of the housing associations find the current system of subsides undeveloped and 54% consider the subsidies too low (ResCon, 2002).…”

“…Several barriers at the policy and strategy level have been identified, especially the perceived costs of implementing environmental management, the lack of market demand and the poor capture of benefits (Sunikka and Boon, 2002). Consequently, sustainability measures are not adopted in large scale.…”

Physicochemical characteristics and occupational exposure to coarse, fine and ultrafine particles during building refurbishment activities

“…The aim of building refurbishment is typically to adapt the existing space to meet the needs and expectations of occupants and bring older buildings up to modern standards for heating, lighting and energy efficiency, as well as to give outdated buildings an upgrading and redesign that goes beyond the cosmetic. The drive for sustainable refurbishment includes both the provision of improved lighting, insulation, ventilation and facilities to ensure the comfort and needs of users as well as related measures to reduce energy consumption in buildings (Mickaityte et al, 2008;Omer, 2008;Sunikka and Boon, 2003).…”