A labeling system as stepping stone for incentives related to the profitability of sustainable housing

In 2004, the Dutch National Sustainable Building Center set up a research project to investigate the widespread belief that sustainable building is more expensive than standard building practice. The results disproved this assumption and demonstrated that sustainable building can be financially profitable. However, the research also showed that these positive financial aspects are hardly ever used to promote sustainable building. SenterNovem initiated a new research project in order to recommend practical solutions for the identified issues. Besides the sustainable and ‘regular’ building sectors, the new project included other sectors in an effort to develop new insights. Focused on housing, this second project revealed the inevitability of a labeling system that covers all activities (‘one language’). It recommends giving top priority to the introduction of a labeling system that translates sustainability in housing into a manageable and controllable system. The system should clearly identify the level of sustainability of a specific house. To gain acceptance among consumers, the system would have to tie in with consumer needs. The idea that many financial incentives can be linked to this labeling system was affirmed in a separate workshop. Just before the second research project was completed, the Dutch housing corporation Oost Flevoland Woondiensten (OFW) introduced a labeling system for their entire stock related to the topics of energy and health. Nine months after the launch, an assessment of this labeling system confirmed the results of the theoretical research and the workshop.