Introduction

A lot of heating and energy is lost in houses with bad insulation or inefficient.  Community projects are in general more accessible for households that are financially strong. Underprivileged households are often misinformed and, as a consequence, show low interest in participating in any program related to energy-saving.

Objectives and target audience

By signing the Kyoto Protocol, the City of Antwerp has committed to achieve 7.5% reduction of energy consumption by 2012.  One action taken to achieve this goal is the development of awareness campaigns and financial incentives targeted to specific social groups.

The main objective of the bonus system is to improve insulation and support energy saving measures targeted to households with a low cadastral income.
The City of Antwerp in collaboration with vzw Recyclant developed an energy saving bonus system targeted to households with a low cadastral income (max € 745)
This bonus is used for:

• Super insulated window panes (€ 20/m²; with U max 1,3 W/m²K)
• Roof insulation (€ 5/m², with minimal R value of 3m²K/w)

Financial Resources and Partners involved

The financial support for this project has increased each year:

• 2005: € 90 000;
• 2006: € 100 000;
• 2007: € 250 000;
• 2008: € 260 000.

Finance-support partners: vzw Recyclant (municipal non profit organisation) and City of Antwerp.

Awareness-support partners: Housing information centres and ecological information centre.  They promoted the campaign city wide and specifically to the target group.  The Housing information centres also helped citizens to fill in the application forms for the premiums.

Process

On May 2005 the City Council approved the new energy premium system for energy saving measures.  It was targeted to house owners with low cadastral income to encourage them to invest in roof insulation and super insulated window panes.
Different information channels were/are used to reach this target group as for example:

• Environmental newspaper with energy tips and general information on environmental and energy campaigns (3 times/year);
• City information newspaper “De(n) Antwerpenaar” (2 times/month) (free for all citizens), approx. 450 000 prints;
• Information at the website of the City Environmental Department ;
• Distribution of information folders all over the city;
• Information points at the recycling parks of the city;
• Organisation of the Energy week Campaign for citizens of Antwerp: with information about actions and exhibitions concerning energy saving measures;
• Environmental phone for information on environment and energy;
• Press conference to launch the campaign.

Results

Table 1 shows the number and the amount of premiums delivered from 2005 until 2007.  There was a 3fold increase (2007) in amount of premiums delivered for roof and window insulation since 2005.

Table1: Premiums for roof insulation and window insulation (owners)
2005    2006    2007
Total number of premiums    163    395    565
Total amount of premiums (in €)     30 316    75 591    119 205
Average amount of premium (in €)     186    192    211
Total surface covered for roof insulation (in m²)     929    3 834    5 763
Total surface covered for super insulation of the windows (in m²)     1 396    3 426    5 168

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

The city wanted to make special efforts towards citizens with low income to promote energy saving measures.
Due to the combination of federal tax reduction, other premiums from the energy network distributors and the city premium system, the pay back period for the investments made by the house owners was very small and therefore this bonus system was very successful.
This principal of “product and target group” adjusted premiums can be used by any other municipality or organisation.