DUWO

Electricity
All the electricity we buy from our suppliers (Eneco and Greenchoice) is generated with water energy and is hence 100% green.

Via DUWO, 14,000 students use around 28 million kWh (kilowatt-hours) of electricity annually. With the help of a unique system linked to the heating installations, we produce more than 10% of that ourselves.
The amount of electricity used by students has increased dramatically over the past few years, with the average student now using 1,900 kWh per year. By way of comparison, the average household consisting of 2.4 people uses 3,450 kWh per year, which is an average of 1,400 kWh per person.

Gas
Nearly all student accommodation is fitted with collective installations for heating water and the buildings themselves. DUWO has to purchase around 10 million m³ of gas a year to fulfil this demand.
Students use quite a lot of gas, on average about 725 m³ of gas a year. It is estimated that around 300 m³ of this is used for heating tap water and the rest for heating the rest of the building.
An average household consisting of 2.4 people uses 1,700 m³ of gas a year, but lives in a house three to four times the size of a student room. The average living space of a student living in DUWO accommodation is 23 m².
Therefore, a student house uses a calculated 20 m³ of gas per m² BVO (Bruto Vloeroppervlak) [Gross Floor Area]. Research conducted by Novem (the Dutch agency for energy and the environment) has shown that only hospitals use more gas on average than the typical student house!

Gas used by low-volume consumers is now also purchased according to green principles. This means that for every connection, the CO2 emissions for the first 5,000 m³ are compensated by forests being planted.

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DUWO & the environment
The Kyoto Protocol (1997) determined that all Dutch households would collectively have to save 3,000 megatonnes of CO2 a year. That seems like an awful lot, but with improved isolation and sensible energy usage (for example, low-energy light bulbs), we should be able to achieve this target at least four times over!

The gas and electricity DUWO uses equates to CO2 emissions totalling 37,500 tonnes a year. Purchasing green electricity and gas has reduced this figure by more than 50% to 17,500 tonnes but a 1,500,000 trees would still need to be planted to negate the remaining emissions.

DUWO is constantly looking for new ways to reduce energy usage and the pressure on the environment. This is reflected in DUWO’s everyday management decisions, but primarily with regard to renovations and new construction projects. And we are certainly not afraid of using new techniques! In collaboration with the Delft Municipality during the development of the campus, DUWO investigated the installation of a heating network that drew its energy from a water purification installation. During a building project in The Hague city centre, water pump boilers heated water using air from the ventilation systems of small independent student residences.

The living cabins situated in Northern Amsterdam do not use any gas at all – each residence is fitted with its own heating system that uses fresh air! An individual heat pump converts cold air from outside into heat, and an added advantage is that the reverse is true in the summer! The same technique is operating at Schoonzichtlaan in Haarlem using warm and cold storage.

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DUWO & housing costs
Energy costs are steadily increasing as a major contributor to housing costs, not only because energy usage is on the rise, but primarily because energy costs are increasing at a much faster rate than the rental price. The price of electricity has increased by an average of 10 % a year since the year 2000 and the price of gas has increased by 25% in the past year!

In order to keep housing costs as low as possible, DUWO operates a system of centralised purchasing for energy. This helps to weaken the impact of price rises. Centralised purchasing is subject to statutory limitations and the purchasing benefits to be gained are significantly less for the smaller complexes than for the larger.

Whenever possible, DUWO introduces energy-saving measures during maintenance, renovation and new construction projects. However, the possibilities are fairly limited due to financial restrictions. DUWO is also conducting research into finding a cost-effective method of invoicing energy costs in a manner that is as fair as possible. The ultimate aim is to eventually be able to invoice exclusively for the energy that has been used.

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You and housing costs
A student living in DUWO accommodation pays an average of €57.50 a month for electricity, gas and water. But note that these are average costs! There is a large degree of price variation when it comes to gas and the average is lowered dramatically by the large number of residents using large-scale consumption connections. Utilities costs make up a massive 25% of the average rental price under €250.

We determine the rental price and while we can try to lower the energy prices, you are responsible for the amount of energy you use. A major energy-saving project was launched in Delft several years ago, supported by the local authorities and the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, which succeeded in reducing gas usage for the year by 10%. The project involved a number of small-scale energy saving measures, but the reduction in energy use was primarily realised by changes in behaviour.
The costs of introducing the various measures were recovered within just one year.

Environmental issues and saving energy are not only things for nature-lovers, they are also important concerns for economists. Many energy-saving measures can be introduced simply and easily and bring with them increased comfort as well as financial benefits.

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You and the environment
It doesn’t matter whether you live in a large or small complex or if you contribute a lot or hardly anything to the energy bill: everyone is personally responsible for the rubbish they leave behind. Whether this is a chocolate-bar wrapper or a kilo of CO2.
A number of measures that you can take are shown below.

You can find a lot more energy-saving tips in our energy brochure as well as on the Milieu Centraal [Central Environment Association] websites:
www.milieucentraal.nl
www.makkelijkemilieutips.nl

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