In Utrecht, the heat transition policy aims to phase out natural gas by 2050. The district of Lunetten is one of seven pilot sites of the E2-CUTIES project, which is actively shaping the energy transition.
The LEC Lunetten brings together the citizen Initiative Warm Lunetten and the Municipality of Utrecht. Together, they aim to build a partnership to co-develop heat network solutions and ensure that the transition is inclusive, affordable, and collectively owned.
They are supported by expert partners: Energie Samen, the national association of energy cooperatives, and the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht.
The LEC Lunetten, a partnership toward a gas-free community heat
Lunetten, is a district at the southeast edge of the City of Utrecht built based on an urban plan laid out by the municipality in the 70s and early 80s. The district is broadly perceived as a relatively autonomous neighbourhood, isolated from the rest of the city - partly because of the infrastructure that surrounds it. On the other hand, the shopping centre of Lunetten is only a 14-minute bike ride away from the Dom, the heart of the historic city centre. Lunetten counts 5,600 buildings that heavily rely on individual gas boilers. To phase out gas, the opportunity for a sustainable district heating system is explored in some areas of the city of Utrecht. In Lunetten, this initiative is led by the local initiative Warm Lunetten, a working group within the broader district cooperative Lumineus Lunetten, exploring ways to evolve into a heat community, in collaboration with the municipality of Utrecht.
Together, after a 2025 “Make the City Together” session defining each party’s role, Warm Lunetten and the municipality created an effective partnership structure to align activities, share information, and explore a neighbourhood energy transition strategy. They jointly developed gas-free scenarios, participatory methods, and initial steps for collective energy-saving implementation. Meanwhile, the Dutch central government is establishing influential policies on this subject. Related to this, the municipality is developing ambitious policies to develop local heating networks, synchronising with the efforts of district-based initiatives like Warm Lunetten.
Shared missions to move forward
Warm Lunetten has led energy‑saving and gas‑reduction activities: neighbourhood heat scans, energy ambassadors for collective insulation, preliminary heating‑scenario studies, and an emerging neighbourhood energy sketch. The municipality of Utrecht provided a feasibility study assessing heat solutions, infrastructures integration study, subsidy coordination, and is defining its legal role as a heat‑zone authority, the authority to grant the construction and exploitation of a collective heating solution or public district heating company. Together, they are shaping preferred and feasible heating scenarios and a possible neighbourhood heating community.
Both sides struggle with limited capacity: Warm Lunetten depends on volunteers and lacks heating‑network expertise, while the municipality faces staff turnover, major system uncertainties like grid congestion and national government financial support and data‑access hurdles. Capacity building, clear communication, mutual trust and aligned planning are essential for success, and the LEC is actively working on those activities.
Community engagement is essential for the LEC
Initial community-building activities, such as energy cafés and neighbourhood days, have begun to involve residents and homeowners’ associations in exploring future-proof household gas-reduction measures. They have also broadened the network while mapping local social networks. Communication to date (meetings, newsletters, markets) has led to the participation of only part of the community.
Tenants and homeowners’ associations need special attention. Tenants form half of the population of Lunetten, and many tenants feel that alternative heating is the responsibility of the Housing Association. About one-third of the dwellings in Lunetten are part of a homeowners’ association. The board that represents the owners is responsible for the management and renewal of the building. Many of these associations are already struggling with the organisation and financing of their common maintenance tasks, making participation in new heating solutions as part of the energy transition challenging.
To ensure a truly inclusive transition, the project must develop outreach strategies that engage diverse groups and organisations, making information on heating options clear, accessible, and practical for all residents and other stakeholders.
To overcome these hurdles, Lunetten will adopt an approach that actively reaches out to inhabitants street by street and through local initiatives and events.
For LEC Lunetten to thrive, sustained collaboration and mutual learning between citizens and municipal actors are key. Clear communication, transparent governance, trust-building and practical support mechanisms can help bridge gaps in knowledge and resources. By advancing inclusivity and ensuring that all residents can participate meaningfully, making their worries, needs and values be heard and accounted for, Lunetten could become a model for how local partnerships can drive the socially just and collective energy transition envisioned by Warm Lunetten and the Utrecht’s Heat Transition policy.