The housing stock has a considerable share of 40% in energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions in the EU. In accordance to energy efficiency and emissions targets set by EU, The Netherlands has ...aimed to renovate 300,000 homes each year, leading to 50% reduction in CO2 emissions, by 2050. Many factors including low renovation rates create uncertainties in achieving these targets. The current study aims for understanding the barriers and drivers towards energy efficiency renovations (EERs) amongst Dutch homeowners, and to aid in gaining a better insight into the role of public authorities in promoting EERs. First, the extrinsic drivers, including policies and other initiatives in the EER process are explained. Second, the intrinsic drivers and intrinsic/extrinsic barriers are explored. Regression analyses are performed on the national Dutch survey data for renovators and potential renovators. Our main findings include: (a) desire to enhance the quality of their life, rather than the financial benefits, etc. is identified as the main driver; (b) the main barriers are the costs of EERs, complexities in the process, information barriers, and finding reliable experts and information; (c) For improvement in meeting renovation targets, the current Dutch policies need to consider all the decision criteria by homeowners, such as: Reducing the complexities; Time needed to obtain loans and subsidies; and Facilitating access to information.
•It theoretically investigates the barriers and drivers toward energy efficiency renovations.•It identifies transaction costs in the homeowners' energy efficiency decision-making processes.•Logistic regression analysis to study and model the barriers and drivers to achieve energy targets.•It analyses the energy performance of the Dutch housing stock, using the Dutch national survey.•It explains and compares the barriers and drivers for the renovators and potential renovators.
As a consequence of the improved quality of thermal properties of buildings due to energy regulations, overall energy use associated with building characteristics is decreasing, making the role of ...the occupant more important. Studies have shown that occupant behaviour might play a prominent role in the variation in energy consumption in different households but the extent of such influence is unknown. The impact of the building's thermal characteristics on space heating demand has been well studied. There is however, little work done that incorporates the impact of consumer behaviour. This study aims to gain greater insight into the effect of occupant behaviour on energy consumption for space heating by determining its effect on the variation of energy consumption in dwellings while controlling for building characteristics. The KWR database from the Ministry of Housing in the Netherlands was used. This study showed that occupant characteristics and behaviour significantly affect energy use (4.2%), but building characteristics still determine a large part of the energy use in a dwelling (42%). Further analysis showed that some occupant behaviour is determined by the type of dwelling or HVAC systems and, therefore, the effect of occupant characteristics might be larger than expected, since these determine the type of dwelling.
Since the late 1970s, China's fast growth of economy and urbanization have driven large-scale urban renewal projects. To deal with complex urban problems, urban renewal requires integrated, ...coordinated and multifaceted strategies involving a wide range of stakeholders. A deeper understanding of the stakeholders in the decision-making process is an essential step towards sustainable urban renewal. This paper aims to understand the stakeholders and their participation in the decision-making of urban renewal in China, using the case of Chongqing. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and a questionnaire survey. Stakeholder Analysis and Social Network Analysis were complemented as the research methodology. First, the stakeholders involved in urban renewal decision-making were clarified. Second, the characteristics, including knowledge, power, and interest of each stakeholder, were analyzed. Third, the relationships between stakeholders were probed, and the structure of their network was examined. Finally, policy implications were drawn to the issues of stakeholder participation in urban renewal decision-making in China.
•The stakeholders' interaction network is of high complexity.•Multiple layers of governmental sectors involved cause significant barriers to cooperation.•The informal participation of developers may create side effects on the outcomes.•Most stakeholders hold negative perceptions of public participation.•Specific laws, regulations, and accountability are needed in decision-making.
•This study empirically examined and verified the parameters of cumulative prospect theory (CPT).•CPT parameters are estimated for four clusters of homeowners.•EUT overestimates the actual decisions ...for 52% of homeowners who did not renovate.•CPT correctly predicts the decisions of 86% of homeowners.•Loss aversion and risk seeking in loss are identified important for energy retrofits.
Retrofitting residential buildings can help mitigate the effects of climate change. Cognitive biases are systematic deviations from rationality in decision making and can lead to inaction, delay, and uncertain decisions. Understanding the cognitive biases involved in residential renovation decisions and developing interventions to overcome them can help increase residential renovation rates. Despite their importance, few studies have examined the impact of cognitive biases on energy retrofits. The question addressed in this study is: “Can accounting for cognitive biases improve the prediction of homeowners’ actual investment decisions, and how can the outcomes be used to recommend potential behavioural interventions?”. Expected Utility Theory (EUT) and Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT) are compared to evaluate which model(s) more accurately describes actual decision-making behaviour regarding energy retrofits. The EUT assumes a rational decision maker. The CPT is a quantitative model that assumes a decision-maker operating under risk and uncertainty and subject to the cognitive biases of reference dependence, loss aversion, decreasing sensitivity, and probability weighting. The influences of cognitive biases on energy retrofit decisions can be quantified if the relative performance of CPT versus EUT is more accurate. The data for these analyses come from housing surveys conducted in the Netherlands in 2012 and 2018, which also collected data on energy modules. 2,784 and 2,878 homeowners were surveyed, respectively. The model is validated by estimating the coefficients of EUT and CPT and identifying the similarities and differences between the results of the two datasets. Before estimating the parameters, four household clusters are identified using grey relational analysis and the K-Means cluster. For the first time, the EUT and CPT parameters are estimated for four clusters and two energy retrofits, double glazing and insulation, using a genetic algorithm because the equations are nonlinear. The results confirm that CPT provides a better description of the actual decision behaviour than EUT using the two previously established initial values of Layard et al. (2008) and Häckel et al. (2017) as well as the parameters estimated by the genetic algorithm. In the latter case, CPT correctly predicts the decisions of 86% of homeowners to renovate their homes to be energy efficient or not. EUT, on the other hand, overestimates the number of decisions to renovate: it incorrectly predicts retrofit for 52% of homeowners who did not renovate for energy efficiency reasons. Using the estimated parameters of CPT, the cognitive biases of reference dependence, loss aversion, diminishing sensitivity, and probability weighting can be clearly seen for different target groups. The groups with the highest average incomes and house values had the highest loss risk aversion parameters. These households invested more in installing insulation and double glazing.
•This study evaluates the non-monetary transaction cost (TC) barriers involved in renovation decision making.•Current and potential renovators encounter TC barriers mainly at the execution and ...consideration phases of the renovation process.•Finding a reliable professional/contractor to perform the work is the main identified TC barrier for exterior renovation.•Information about how to perform the work is the main identified influencing factor in the renovation decision for interior renovations.•For energy efficiency renovations, the main barrier is the difficulty of finding ways to make houses more energy efficient.
The renovation of housing stock in the Netherlands has the potential to help achieving the country’s climate change targets. However, there are non-monetary Transaction Cost (TC) factors, such as searching for information and finding a reliable professional/contractor, that present barriers to householders when making the decision to renovate or not. This study evaluates the impact of the transaction costs on the renovation decision-making process for two groups of householders, current renovators and potential renovators, and for three types of renovations, exterior renovations, interior renovations, and energy efficiency renovations. The study analyses householder renovation decisions in relation to TC barriers at different stages of the renovation processes. The data was collected from a survey of 3,776 homeowners in the Netherlands. The main identified TC barriers were found to be at the consideration, decision, and execution phases of the renovation decision-making process, and are: finding a reliable professional/contractor to do exterior renovations, determining costs for interior renovations, and finding ways to increase the energy efficiency of the house using energy-saving renovations. The main sources of information for householders are construction stores/Do It Yourself (DIY), installations and maintenance companies for exterior and energy efficiency renovations, while for interior renovations it is construction stores/DIY companies, Internet, and recommendations from family/friends. The findings from this study contribute to more effective management and distribution of both information and financial resources in relation to the renovation of housing stock.
China’s fast growth of economy and urbanization have driven large-scale urban renewal projects, thus triggering a wide spectrum of unsustainable problems. Little research has systematically explored ...the stakeholders’ expectations in urban renewal projects in China. A deeper understanding of the divergent interests and expectations of the key stakeholder groups is an important step towards sustainable urban renewal. This paper aims to analyze the stakeholders’ expectations on urban renewal projects. Eighteen factors are identified and compared among the main stakeholders: government sectors, consulting parties, the general public and affected residents in both redevelopment and rehabilitation projects, using questionnaire survey and interviews in Chongqing, China. The results reveal that there exist enormous differences of opinions and interests among stakeholders in all economic, environmental and social aspects. To achieve sustainable urban renewal in China, the governments ought to reconsider what the “public interest” stands for. In-situ residents should be understood and treated differently, based on the type of projects. An effective dialogue mechanism as well as supportive administrative and legal system should be established. Moreover, urban-renewal-related education and publicity should be a long-term strategy to change current awareness of different stakeholders, by improving their skill and willingness to participate.
Building Energy Efficiency Retrofit (BEER) is considered as a valuable way to improve energy efficiency of high-energy-consumption buildings. Sustainable BEER helps integrate sustainable development ...strategy into existing buildings and retrofit projects. To ensure BEER projects that can fulfill the sustainable development strategy, Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) is one possible market mechanism to deliver energy efficiency projects. Sustainable BEER under the EPC mechanism is a comprehensive system which involves the various demands of sustainable dimensions, performance criteria and groups of project success factors, making multi-criteria decisions become a challenging problem for decision makers. This paper aims to examine the interrelationships of sustainable BEER by focusing on an existing hotel building. EPC mechanism is applied in the case study and an effective Analytic Network Process (ANP) approach is also employed in the research. The result indicates that sustainable BEER in hotel buildings under the EPC mechanism is mainly determined by project control mechanism, available technology, organizing capacity of the team leader, trust, accurate Measurement and Verification (M&V), and team workers' technical skills. Decision makers should dedicate more attention to these aspects. From the research findings, several policy implications are proposed in this paper.
Over half of all residential buildings in the Netherlands are owner-occupied. In this study, the influence of behavioural factors on individual decisions toward energy efficiency renovations (EERs) ...was investigated. This study focused on contextual (e.g. building characteristics), personal (e.g. awareness of energy consumption), and motivational factors (e.g. improving comfort). Logistic regression analyses were selected as the preferred method of analysis. The Netherlands's housing survey energy modules, which was conducted in 2018, was the basis of these analyses. 2878 homeowners were surveyed. Behavioural factors that influence the homeowners' decisions were investigated for four types of EERs: (1) double glazing, (2) insulation, (3) photovoltaic (PV) panel, and (4) sustainable heating. It was found that homeowners' preferences for double glazing were mainly influenced by the characteristics of the building and household and motivation to adopt EERs. Similarly, insulation and PV panels were to be mainly influenced by building characteristics. For sustainable heating, a combination of building and household characteristics and personal factors (e.g. deliberate gas reduction) influenced the decisions regarding this EER. None of the personal factors had a significant impact on the decisions regarding installation of double glazing; in contrast, the installation of PV panels was found to be highly influenced by these factors.
PurposeThe recent promotion of prefabricated housing (PH) in China has resulted in a prosperous period for its implementation. However, transaction costs (TCs) cause low economic efficiency to ...stakeholders and hinder the further promotion of PH. No relevant study has yet been made to investigate the TCs and their causes in the PH field. This paper identifies critical TCs and explores the influencing factors from the developers' perspective.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey were used to collect data about TCs and influencing factors. The most influential factors are identified with their impacts on particular TCs, yielded from correlation analysis and logistic regression.FindingsFrom the developers' perspective in China's PH market, this study identified that the most concerning sources of TCs are: hidden costs arising from disputes, extra workloads from design changes, learning costs, intensive communication and coordination in assembly and unexpected information costs in decision-making. The use of an ordered logistic regression approach indicates that the four most influential factors are: qualification of the general contractor, mandatory local policies, owner type and competitiveness of the developer.Practical implicationsTo reduce the TCs, experiencing learning and ensuring the design scheme's complicity are recommended to save information searching and exchanging costs. The implications for the PH developers are for them to: (1) professionalize their own organization and (2) procure high-qualified general contractors. For the policymakers, this means they should improve the clarity of the mandatory local policies for PH step-by-step.Originality/valueBy applying the TCs economic theory, this study explores factors that influence TCs in the PH industry. It sheds light on the influencing mechanism behind the TCs in the context of prefabricated housing.
In China, there is a growing number of urban renewal projects due to the rapid growth of the economy and urbanization. To meet the needs of urban development, urban renewal requires a sound ...decision-making approach involving various stakeholder groups. However, current urban renewal decision-making is criticized for poor efficiency, equity, and resulting in many unintended adverse outcomes. It is claimed that high-level transaction costs (e.g., a great deal of time spent on negotiation and coordination) are the factors hidden behind the problems. However, few studies have analyzed urban renewal decision-making in a transaction costs perspective. Using the case of Chongqing, this paper aims at adopting transaction costs theory to understand the administrative process of urban renewal decision-making in China. This research focuses on four key stakeholder groups: municipal government, district government, local administrative organizations, and the consulting parties. A transaction costs analytical framework is established. First, the decision-making stages of urban renewal and involved key stakeholder groups are clarified. Second, the transactions done by different stakeholder groups in each stage is identified, thus to analyze what types of transaction costs are generated. Third, the relative levels of transaction costs among different stakeholder groups were measured based on the interview. The empirical analysis reveals how transaction costs occur and affect urban renewal decision-making. Finally, policy implications were proposed to reduce transaction costs in order to enhance urban renewal.
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