Amsterdam
Amsterdam's objective is to reduce CO2 emissions by 40 per cent by 2020 compared to 1990.
Nuon, part of Vattenfall, and the city of Amsterdam already share more than 100 years of 'energy history'. Nuon is committed to supporting Amsterdam to reach its climate ambitions. Find out which projects Nuon is supporting in Amsterdam to create a sustainable city.
Amsterdam ArenA
Together with Nuon, Amsterdam ArenA is constantly considering the options to become more sustainable and innovative.
Amsterdam ArenA does not only want to be a platform for professional athletes and artists, but also for sustainable innovation.
A solar stadium
The ArenA generates its own power with Nuon solar panels. The solar roof was built in 2014 and generates approximately 930,000 kWh a year, which is 10 per cent of the electricity the stadium currently uses annually and the equivalent of the electricity consumption of about 270 households. With the installation of the panels, the ArenA has joined an elite group of European 'solar stadiums'. To make the rest of the required electricity greener, the ArenA uses Nuon Dutch Wind Energy. Wind certificates guarantee that the wind energy is generated in the Netherlands.
reduction in CO2 emissions
More sustainable innovation
The heat supplied to the ArenA by Nuon is a residual product from our power plant in Diemen. Previously, the residual heat of electricity generation was released in the air. Now this residual heat is used very efficiently and is CO2 neutral. Nuon Koude cools the ArenA by constantly pumping up cold water from the bottom of nearby Lake Oudekerkerplas.
In total, the co-operation with Nuon led to a reduction in CO2 emissions from 4,000,000 kg/ CO2 to approximately 3,500,000 kg/ CO2 in three years time.
Watch the video about Amsterdam ArenA to learn more!
Amsterdam RAI
Amsterdam RAI is one of Europe's biggest conference and trade fair organizations. The RAI is a pioneer in sustainability and uses Nuon's district heating, renewable electricity and gas.
Sustainability and saving energy costs
There is an increase in the number of events in past years, meaning an increase in the total energy consumption. The main reason for choosing Nuon as an energy supplier, is that Nuon's green energy activities match the ambitions of the event organization.
Credits: RAI Amsterdam
solar panels have been installed
Collaboration results
- All electricity is transitioning to green.
- The CO2 emissions released during gas combustion is offset. This means that Nuon invests in sustainable projects, such as the construction of hydro power plants and wind farms.
- Savings on gas consumption are achieved by using district heating and residual heat from power plants, factories or waste incineration.
- 1,632 solar panels have been installed on the roof of Hall 8, which saves 40,000 Euros and reduces CO2 emissions by 144,000 kg a year.
Diemen heat buffer
In Diemen, Nuon has built a heat buffer, which works as a gigantic vacuum flask.
A battery for heat
If a power plant located in Diemen is running to supply electricity, when the heat is not needed, it can be stored in the heat buffer in the form of hot water. At other times when there is a lot of electricity supplied from renewable sources (when there is a lot of wind or sun) the power plant’s energy production can be reduced or switched off temporarily. The heat supply is then provided by the heat storage.
Skyphoto of Nuon powerplants Diemen 3 and 4.
Reduction of CO2 emissions
The Diemen heat buffer will make the supply of heat to households in Almere, IJburg and Amsterdam-Zuidoost more independent from the generation of heat and electricity. And in the same time, the power plants in Diemen can react more efficiently to renewable electricity production and in this way reduce CO2 emissions. Thus, with the realization of the heat buffer we made another step towards a more sustainable energy mix.
Electric mobility
Amsterdam is a leader in the field of e-mobility. The city has one of the most highly used charging networks for electric vehicles in Europe.
charging stations in 5 years
Nuon's charging solutions
Over the past 5 years, 1,500 charging stations have been installed – lots of them by Nuon who is also responsible for their maintenance. The free Nuon charging stations app allows drivers to check the availability of charging stations all over the city. Amsterdam aims to expand its number of charging stations to 4,000 by 2018. Nuon actively provides charging solutions for all surroundings, from public to private.
Heating and cooling
Nuon is making an important contribution to this by providing Amsterdam´s residents and companies with air conditioning solutions through its heating and cooling networks.
By 2025, the city of Amsterdam wants to reduce its CO2 emissions by 40 per cent compared to 1990. That means a total reduction of about 3.1 million tons of CO2 per year.
Expanding and sustaining
Westpoort Warmte (WPW), a joint venture between the Amsterdam´s Waste and Energy Company (AEB) and Nuon, started the construction of the district heating networks in 2000. At the end of 2013, the use of district heating resulting from waste incineration reduced CO2 emissions by 24,000 tons on an annual basis. Around 61 per cent of the heat supplied by WPW is climate neutral. This means that the heating of about 10,650 households is fully climate neutral. This is unprecedented in the Netherlands.
Various renewable sources
The CO2-free heat from the WPW network is supplied by various renewable sources. The latter two sources are 100 percent climate neutral, while AEB is over 50 per cent climate neutral. This combination of reduced CO2 emissions, its share in renewable heat, innovation and expansion earned Westpoort Warmte the Warmtenetwerk Best Practice Award at the end of 2012.
A joint effort
Nuon Warmte and Westpoort Warmte are making a joint effort to connect at least 100,000 households to the district heating network by 2025. At the same time, we are actively seeking for ways to make our sources more sustainable. The measures taken include adding new sources, using decentralized generation (in the aforementioned bioenergy plants, for example), fitting solar boilers to privately-owned roofs and researching alternative sources, such as geothermal energy.
Houthaven
Houthaven, located right next to the IJ lake, is a fine example of creating a 100 percent climate-neutral district.
Kadoelerbreek
Comfort cooling for an apartment building for the elderly
A highly sustainable product
Kadoelerbreek is an apartment building for the elderly. It is owned by housing corporation Ymere, located in the Amsterdam-Noord district and makes use of a highly sustainable Nuon product: comfort cooling. This cooling system is used to lower the home temperature by a few degrees in the Summer.
reduction of CO2 emissions
Reduction of CO2 emissions
This system stores the cold in the winter underground, and in summer, when it is hot, it pumps the cold up to be used for cooling. Many older people experience discomfort during a hot summer and benefit from the cooling. Compared to an individual gas boiler and standard air conditioning, this cold storage technology can reduce CO2 emissions by 60 to 80 per cent when used in combination with district heating.
Ouderkerkerplas
A natural cold water source
Eco-friendly cooling solution
In 2010, Nuon opened a new and sustainable cooling plant which uses cold water from the nearby Ouderkerkerplas Lake. Nuon is the first energy company in the Netherlands that has ever used this kind of technology to provide a comfortable cooling solution for buildings. The Amsterdam Zuidoost district is the second region in the Netherlands to use this eco-friendly cooling solution.
A cool business district
In 2006, Nuon opened the first cooling plant in the Zuidas business district of Amsterdam. This plant uses water from the Nieuwe Meer lake. Customers can cool their rooms, computers and servers, and no longer need to have their own cooling system. Eleven buildings are currently connected to the cooling grid in Zuidoost: The Nieuw Amsterdam ING office block, including Nuon's new head office and a hotel, the Atlas ArenA Amsterdam office block, the new Endemol studios, the AMC, the New Loft Office, the Zuidoost civic amenity site and the Amsterdam ArenA.
Some cool facts
This new cooling system emits less CO2 than conventional cooling machines. It ultimately saves 7.2 million kilograms of CO2 emissions every year. This quantity equates to the emissions produced by around 27 million miles of car travel.
Liters of water used per year:
8 million m3
(on average, if used to full capacity)
Depth from which the water is pumped:
45 metres
The temperature of the cooling water:
5 to 6°C