Innovative sustainable future planned for Netherlands landmarks

Minister Jet Bussemaker of Education, Culture and Sports has made 10 million euros available to help solve the problem of how to make national monuments in the Netherlands more sustainable. This money will be given to 10 monuments in the next two years as contribution to find innovative energy saving measures. Two of these monuments - the Hermitage Amsterdam and the Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam - will be helping each other out. After the renovation of the Hermitage it was discovered that the museum's exhibition halls has a greater need of cooling than heating. This has resulted in a surplus of stored heat. It turns out that the innovative solution was just about 500 meters away, at the Hortus. With the extra government investment, the Hermitage Amsterdam and the Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam will be permanently linked with 425 meter long tubes. Through these tubes the Hermitage will send extra heat to the Hortus to heat the plants in the monumental Palm House. And in turn, the Hortus will send cooled water back to the Hermitage to cool the exhibition halls. The 18 monuments participating in this trial run includes museums, mills, farms and old factories. They will receive a once-off grant for sustainability interventions to help out with the costs incurred in redevelopment or restoration of the building. This trial run focuses on projects that are already in the starting phases of redevelopment or restoration and will be completed in 2016 at the latest. When evaluating the success of this experiment, the government will look at the energy costs at various times, the effect changes had on the cultural and historical value of the monuments, and the final yields Based on the results, the ministry will have a better view of the challenges and opportunities monuments are faced with and how to best stimulate sustainability.