Around 500 sustainable homes open to public for tours

Owners of about 500 homes will open their doors on Saturday to the public interested in making homes more sustainable. On the National Sustainable Home Route, visitors can choose from a visit to a "tiny house" without a connection to the electricity grid or a house with its own windmill. Homes from the 1970s that have become more sustainable through insulation or solar panels are also taking part, emphasized a spokesperson for the initiative.

It is unclear exactly how many people will take part in the tour. The website of the National Sustainable Houses Route has already been visited more often that it was last year. High gas and electricity prices may play a role, because they make it more financially attractive to do something about high energy consumption. In addition, coronavirus may have made homeowners and visitors a little more cautious last year.

The Sustainable Houses Route was founded more than 10 years ago as a company that helps people make choices about how to make a house more sustainable. Online, people can view examples of interventions that make a home more energy-efficient all year round and real visits are possible two weekends a year.

"All kinds of homes are participating. For example, houses from the 70s, which are recognizable to many people. But also people with monumental buildings, who often have to take old style elements and all kinds of rules into account," said the spokesperson. "But there are also real pioneers among the participants, who, for example, have their own windmill or experiment with heat storage."