Amsterdam reduces heating temperature to save energy

The municipality is too dependent on Russian gas and rising energy prices demand swift actions

The heating in municipal buildings in Amsterdam is now 3 degrees lower, the authorities informed yesterday. The reason: the urgent need to save energy, due to rising prices and high dependence on Russian gas. The move follows a wider consultation from earlier this month, in which the city talked to over 60 organizations, entrepreneurs and companies, on how to quickly reduce the consumption of energy.

Reducing European dependency on Russian gas – degree by degree

As it turns out, the quickest way to reduce energy consumption, according to Amsterdam, is to start from the built environment. As the city website puts it, lowering the temperature by 3 degrees results in 15% reduction in gas consumption. Hence, it was the first step to be taken at the municipal level yesterday.

It is important to note that the central reduction of temperatures is not enforced – should municipal employees feel cold, they are free to increase manually the temperature for their own offices. Moreover, the temperature will be reduced by just 1 degree in some buildings where further savings are not technically possible and will not be changed in others, such as the city archives’ building.

According to the World Economic Forum, last year EU countries imported 100 billion euros worth of energy from Russia. The reduction of this dependency goes through energy diversification, but also – through lowering consumption and there are many ways that administrations, businesses and households can contribute. On top of reducing room temperature to 18 degrees, Amsterdam has turned to energy coaching – where experts come to you to analyse how you live or work and what can be done to reduce energy consumption.

How about you? Is your household doing something to reduce energy consumption? Tell us at office@themayor.eu