Antje Bottema

Antje Bottema has lived with husband Johan Metz in a newly built natural gas-free home since 2020. “With the help of the architect and the Energy Desk, we have made maximum efforts on insulation and smart use of the sun’s heat.”

“The house is equipped with a thick insulation package all around and the windows are made of triple glazing. The heating is a combination of electric heating and heat recovery from ventilation air. We knew that this combination might not be enough on very cold days. We chose to experience it first. This way we found out where in the house there was a need for extra heat. We ended up adding a few electric radiators.”

In the summer it stays cool inside because the veranda blocks the sunlight; in winter the sun is low and shines straight in

“I think the nice thing about our house is its orientation towards the sun. In the summer it stays cool inside because the veranda blocks the sunlight. In winter the sun is low and shines straight in; then it actually provides warmth. In the autumn the heating is not on here. We have twenty solar panels on our shed, again optimally oriented towards the sun. We do not have solar collectors because that was not possible for us with two people. Instead we have a regular electric boiler costing 700 euros.”

Grants

“We received a subsidy of 1,200 euros for the solar panels. For the rest, our project just left us out of the picture. So you must have enough resources to make that investment. On the other hand: our energy bill is now quite low. Because we now need some additional heating, we pay 85 euros per month, but that may soon be even less; If an affordable home battery becomes available, we will also work on that.”