Heat Consumption

The Netherlands is situated between 51st and 54th degrees of latitude. It has a maritime climate, the characteristics of which are: mild winters with rain and strong winds. The total surface of the Netherlands is 41,526 square km, of which land surface is 33,900 square km. The Netherlands has a population of 15,4 mln (1994) people, which equals 456 inhabitants per sq. km. The heating season lasts from October until June. The average outside temperature during the heating season is 4.8C, which results in 3.213 degree days at 18C room temperature limit.

The design conditions for space heating systems are:

With a view to energy-saving the houses are increasingly better insulated. The Current national building regulations require a value of 0.4 W/sq. meterK for the average heat transmission coefficient of the walls and roofs. With this, the average heat transmission coefficient is evaluated in relation to the volume and the outside surface area of the house. In addition, extra aftention is given to patterns of living and control of the heating system of the house.

The energy consumption for space heating has decreased in the past few years:

Table 1: Energy consumption for space heating including hot water service 

         average heat consumption    average heat load
    year           GJ/year                   kW
    1982              55                     13,5
    1985              40                     12
    1994              36                     10
Each consumers heat consumption is measured with a calorimeter device. In some cases the measuring is done per building and settled with the aid of distributional calorimeters.

At the beginning of January 1994 about 160,000 single-family houses and several multiple dwellings with a total connected heat equivalent of about 107,000 houses were connected nationwide, resulting in a total connection of about 267,000 house equivalents. The total length of the heat transmission lines is about 600 km and the heat distribution network in the Netherlands amounted to about 1,500 km. In 1994, about 95% of the district heat produced was generated by combined heat and power plants.

Competition in the Heat Market