Week 1 The trouble with gas...
Week 1
Rather sadly, the most important news this week is the fact of yet another price rise for gas. Up 30% to €2,10 per m3 from January 1.
Sad, only because there has been little else exercising my mind this week.
We got back to "normal" with the clients, although one is in quarantine. Janny also interviewed two more potential clients - always with the thought of fitting in with our existing group. We have a 1 month trial period - for both parties.
GAS
Our gas bill will be in the region of €24.000,00 this year (shared by 5 households).
I have meters for each of the apartments and Janny's Mum shares our meter. She has floor heating throughout and I'm trying to use firewood for our own living room.
I think a lot of people are doing what I'm doing - scrambling for an alternative. The Government have just announced increases in the subsidies (for counter measures) and a reduction in the (hefty) taxes on gas.
At least two improvement measures have to be taken in order to get the subsidies - eg underfloor insulation (and usually floor heating) in combination with say, triple glazing to replace our old double glazing.
We're also considering a "facelift" by insulating the outside of our house (and the apartments) and applying a new cladding.
We would be extending the black "look" at the rear and stealing an idea from up the road for our own house.
Most of it I would be able to do myself (I think?) (with the help of our paid volunteer).
The first thing I need to do is to find out the correct order of the various insulation blocks and membranes. One of the two things required could simply be to fill in the cavity walls with insulation beads - apparently they need to first inspect it with a camera in order to see if if there are any obstructions.
In researching the matter of insulation (and getting off gas), I have found that there are distinctive eras for the type of construction methods - ours is from the mid 1960's and is typically a double brick cavity wall construction. The apartments and our work area are converted barns, but luckily they were mostly also of that double brick wall construction.
(The big work building was only single wall but we insulated it in the major works of 1997- 1999
The old house next to where Janny's parents used to live was almost ready to be pulled down - but they insulated it on the outside and put a very attractive timber cladding on it. (As well as a new roof - they're still doing the inside).
So, something like this for the front of the house... (after I've worked out what it is going to cost). And, the advisory websites say that Local Government approval has to be obtained in order to change the appearance.
I've never forgotten that we had to get Provincial Government approval via the Schoonheids Commissie ( Beauty Commission) to change the colour of our window frames - when we did the first major rebuild. - and we had to wait 6 weeks for the approval!! I think things have loosened up a bit now...
and a continuation of the black at the rear...
This one gave me sciatica - going up and down the ladder...
It won't be cheap, but with the help of the subsidies (and €2000,00 from our own village) and the spur of a €25.000,00 p.a. gas bill.... it should be doable - just the kick up the backside that I needed!.
We keep our rents fairly low in order to avoid paying BTW (GST), but even so, our residents are also suffering with the new gas prices.
There are so many YouTube videos and websites that can help with calculating the materials needed.
I even had to include our "wind area" - in the Netherlands. and the fact that we are not in a built-up area. Wind Area 2...
Slimfort seems to be a pretty good system that includes provision for building the framing for the cladding - and does away with the need for any of the membranes - breathing, condensation and more - all of which fog my brain trying to figure it out.
(Oh well, this is definitely better than worrying about the financial implications of the collapse of America, the Ukraine (and now Khazakstan), and Global Warming).
Another (ongoing) gas story
I mentioned once before that the Netherlands gas extraction in Groningen has had to stop because it was causing earthquakes. (After several court cases, it was determined that people didn't have to prove that their damage was caused by the gas extraction - it was just assumed and the only thing to be determined was the cost of repairs).
BUT... (news this week)
Some five million households in Germany are connected to the Groningen gas grid. A second problem is the delay to the expansion of a nitrogen extraction plant in Zuidbroek. The Netherlands hopes to replace the use of Groningen gas with imports from abroad, by mixing nitrogen with more calorific imported gas to make it suitable for cooking and central heating. The ministry will take a final decision by April, but depending on the weather, gas production could be increased to 7.6 billion cubic metres to meet both German and local demand, the department said.
‘This is a slap in the face for our residents,’ provincial council executive Tjeerd van Dekken told local broadcaster RTV Noord. ‘This is an unacceptable situation. It seems that Germany is short of gas and that has to be sold at the expense of Groningen.’
Despite the nationwide ban on most fireworks, 773 people were treated for firework related injuries during the New Year festivities, according to public safety body VeiligheidNL. This is double the 2020 total, when there was also a ban on all but the lightest variety, VeiligheidNL said. Health officials say 256 people were treated at a hospital accident and emergency department, and 517 at family doctor clinics. The total is still 40% down on 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic hit. In particular, there was an increase in the number of under-12s injured by fireworks – from 120 in 2020 to 190. Almost half of them had been lighting fireworks themselves and almost half were injured by fireworks in the F1, or least powerful category, which were not banned. Burns were the most common injury, followed by eye injuries. Several people had to have their hands or fingers amputated.
MPs have also reacted with shock and anger at the news. ‘The cabinet briefing contains not one word about the damages claims, not one word about strengthening houses, not one word about compensation,’ Socialist MP Sandra Beckerman said. Damage Thousands of people are still waiting for compensation or help with making their houses safe following years of earthquakes caused by the ground settling after natural gas extraction.
(A brother-in-law of ours has landed on his feet with a job of assessing the damage and authorising repairs - most of it done from home with the aid of field photos - looks like this is going to continue for a while)
More than 1,000 quakes of up to 3.6 on the Richter scale have hit the province since 1986. So far, 126,356 reports of damage caused by the quakes have been made to an official government institute set up to process claims. Up to now, €1.15bn has been allocated to home owners and others to pay for damage. The new government has a minister – former junior finance minister Hans Vijlbrief – with specific responsibility for sorting out compensation for people whose property has been damaged by the quake.
Skating
It's been 25 years since the last Elfstedentocht (11 Cities Race) - this is the longest period between races and many doubt that there will be another...
A couple of celebrities have been doing a boating trip through the Netherlands series and this week they were "doing the Elfstedentocht" by boat, in Winter.
The episodes might be available here... not sure if it works OS.
Janny has now set her sights on us doing that this year (in summer) when she can arrange the time.
Fireworks
One 12 year old boy was also killed.
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