As energy prices across Europe continue to soar, The Netherlands is encouraging individuals and businesses to save on gas usage. Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport has announced that it will be joining a nationwide effort to reduce energy consumption.
“Starting on March 14th, the temperature at Schiphol will also drop by one degree in the terminal and at the head office. If the whole country lowers the heating by one degree, approximately 6% energy can be saved,” a statement from Schiphol Airport read.
“Because of the war in Ukraine, we are willing to become less dependent on natural gas, which is also good for the environment and saves money,” the statement added.
The amount of money saved by Schiphol Group by lowering the heating will be donated by the airport to Giro 555, an initiative to raise funds for the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
The nationwide action comes amid gas price increases in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to the Dutch Association for Sustainable Energy (NVDE), the Netherlands could be completely independent of Russian gas within a few years.
Since 2018, Schiphol Airport has been running entirely on Dutch wind energy. A large part of the terminal, most piers and several offices have heat and cold storage, a sustainable system that stores energy in the form of heat and cold in the ground, using less gas.