The Impact of Subsidies on the Prevalence of Climate-Sensitive Residential Buildings in Malaysia

David T. Tan, Yi Gong and José Gabriel Siri
Additional contact information
David T. Tan: International Institute for Global Health, United Nations University, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia
Yi Gong: Sustainable Places Research Institute, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales CF10 3BA, UK
José Gabriel Siri: International Institute for Global Health, United Nations University, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 12, 1-26

Abstract: Dependence on air-conditioning (AC) for residential cooling and ventilation is a health and sustainability challenge. In hot temperatures, climate-sensitive buildings (CSB) can complement and/or substitute for AC usage in achieving thermal comfort. Many countries facing such conditions—particularly in tropical climates—are developing quickly, with rising populations and income creating demand for new housing and AC. This presents a window for adoption of CSB but could also result in long term lock-in of AC-dependent buildings. Here, a simple system dynamics model is used to explore the potential and limitations of subsidies to affect futures of housing stock and night-time AC usage in Malaysia. The effectiveness of subsidies in achieving high uptake of CSB and resulting health benefits is highly dependent on homebuyer willingness to pay (WTP). A detailed understanding of WTP in the Malaysian context and factors that can shift WTP is necessary to determine if CSB subsidies can be a good policy mechanism for achieving CSB uptake.

Keywords: urban health; health inequities; urban heat; air-conditioning; climate-sensitive buildings; systems thinking; system dynamics model; thermal comfort; willingness to pay (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/12/2300/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/12/2300/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:12:p:2300-:d:123293

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().