On Wednesday the 21st of September, the annual Prince’s day took place again in The Hague. For the people who do not know about this big annual event:
Prince’s day is the opening of Dutch parliament. A festive day, children in The Hague are free from school so they may watch the procession of the Golden Coach. The King is driven in the Golden Coach from Noordeinde Palace to the Ridderzaal (Hall of Knights) in the Binnenhof, which houses the Dutch Parliament. During this event the speech from the throne (Dutch: Troonrede) will be narrated by the king (Willem-Alexander) and sets out the main features of government policy for the coming parliamentary session.
In the speech from the throne, the current state and the goals for the transition towards a sustainable economy are outlined. ABN-AMRO published a report about the prospects for the upcoming years. It describes the current state of several energy sources, but also what actions should be undertaken. It is promising to know that The Netherlands are on the right track. The report states that, if we continue in this way, we can be one up on our neighboring countries. Still, The Netherlands rely highly on gas and coal, particularly because of the petrochemical industries. The following image shows the electricity production per energy source (dutch):
Luckily, because of the dutch national energy agreement, big project such as the biggest offshore wind park will be realized soon. This will generate sustainable energy at the lowest price ever (7,27 cent per Kwh). This sound promising, but also the households can contribute a lot to the change. By using energy more careful, we can save up to 1,5% per year. This could save us a lot of emission, and will bring us closer to the stated goals. Moreover, a lot more important issues, such as: political and consumer involvement are mentioned in the report.
You can read the full report (dutch) here: na-aardgas-komt-zonneschijn-prinsjesdagrapport-2016-def-versie