Belvilla helps owners of homes with advice for energy saving

Eindhoven, November 10th – Measures against draft, better adjustment of the existing heating, 100% switching to LED lighting. These are just a few of the concrete advice with which Belvilla tries to help owners of holiday homes on their way to greater energy efficiency and to ensure they are maximizing the income they receive with their holiday home.

Remy de Ruysscher, energy expert and director of Sensoria Sustainable Energy Solutions has a large number of concrete recommendations with which the energy efficiency of holiday homes can be increased fairly quickly.

Inefficiency in current systems
Current systems for ventilating, heating and lighting homes still have a lot of inefficiencies. An issue that is very topical, given the enormously increased prices for gas and electricity. By optimizing the existing situation there is a world to win. This also applies to holiday homes.

Specific measures per case
Thinking carefully about the typical consumer behaviour of tenants of holiday homes in general and of a concrete holiday home in particular is essential to arrive at specific and effective measures for your holiday home. In any case, tenants of a holiday home are not often cost-conscious in terms of energy, because they rent including the energy costs. Nevertheless, a number of recommendations can be quickly applied.

Quick wins for energy saving
Closing cracks and draft holes already brings great benefits. This can be done by applying good rubber draft strips and adjusting windows and doors so that they close properly. Better adjusting central heating boilers and other types of heating also brings great benefits. These two measures can already provide approximately 30% of the total energy savings that are possible. Switching completely to LED lighting means a potential saving of 90% on lighting costs. In addition, there is a lot to be gained by only heating and ventilating rooms that are actually in use.

Bigger measures that save
There are plenty of other measures that cost more time and money but also yield a lot. A holiday home sometimes has a large volume of glass due to a glass sliding door or simply a large window area. In addition to being susceptible to burglary, it is a source of energy loss. If this is older glass, then replacing it with HR++ or better glass helps.

It is also interesting to examine the situation where the central heating boiler can be heated to just 60 degrees instead of the average 80. This often requires the radiators to be replaced.

Improving ventilation can be a first step on the road to renewing it into heat recovery ventilation. Finally, motion detectors or smart devices can further contribute when, if after a given period there is no movement in the holiday home, the lighting and the like are automatically switched off or even the thermostat goes down.

Savings in practice
How does this work out in terms of day-to-day savings?

If you replace 60 watt incandescent or halogen lamps with 7 watt LED lamps (who have the same lumen level), with the 2023 price ceiling of 0,70 euro / kWh (price ceiling in the Netherlands) you save:

with 10 lamps replaced: 541,73 euros / year
with 25 lamps replaced: 1354,33 euros / year
with 50 lamps replaced: 2708,65 euros / year

If in an average home you replace standard glazing with isolation glazing (HR+++), with the 2023 price ceiling of 1,50 euro / sqm gas (price ceiling in the Netherlands) you save:

with 20 sqm of glazing: approximately 600,00 euro / year

with 40 sqm of glazing: approximately 1200,00 euro / year

* Calculations on the basis of government information as well as calculation modules on Energiehunter.nl.