Modelling decisions on energy-efficient renovations: A review
Jonas Friege (jonasfriege@gmail.com) and
Emile Chappin
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2014, vol. 39, issue C, 196-208
Abstract:
The buildings sector accounts for more than 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Despite the well-known economic viability of many energy-efficient renovation measures which offer great potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and meeting climate protection targets, there is a relatively low level of implementation. We performed a citation network analysis in order to identify papers at the research front and intellectual base on energy-efficient renovation in four areas: technical options, understanding decisions, incentive instruments, and models and simulation. The literature was reviewed in order to understand what is needed to sufficiently increase the number of domestic energy-efficient renovations and to identify potential research gaps. Our findings show that the literature on energy-efficient renovation gained considerable momentum in the last decade, but lacks a deep understanding of the uncertainties surrounding economic aspects and non-economic factors driving renovation decisions of homeowners. The analysis indicates that the (socio-economic) energy saving potential and profitability of energy-efficient renovation measures is lower than generally expected. It is suggested that this can be accounted for by the failure to understand and consider the underpinning influences of energy-consuming behaviour in calculations. Homeowners׳ decisions to renovate are shaped by an alliance of economic and non-economic goals. Therefore, existing incentives, typically targeting the economic viability of measures, have brought little success. A deeper understanding of the decisions of homeowners is needed and we suggest that a simulation model which maps the decision-making processes of homeowners may result in refining existing instruments or developing new innovative mechanisms to tackle the situation.
Keywords: Energy efficiency; Renovation decision; Modelling; Incentive instruments; Bibliometrics; Citations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:rensus:v:39:y:2014:i:c:p:196-208
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DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2014.07.091
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