The diffusion of environmental innovations in housing can only progress when the demand for sustainable housing increases. For this reason several initiatives have been taken in the Netherlands to get consumers and real estate agents (more) enthusiastic about sustainable housing. The results of four of these initiatives will be analyzed in this paper: the consumer magazine 'Pure Living', 'open doors' events, a course about sustainable housing for consumers and a course about sustainable housing for real estate agents. Despite the differences between these four initiatives three general conclusions can be drawn: the information should be carefully geared to the needs of the target group – the source of information should be unimpeachable – experience is more convincing than text or talks. The analysis also resulted in practical suggestions to improve the effectiveness of these or comparable future initiatives.