An Assessment of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of Energy Efficient Retrofits to Existing Residential Buildings

Orlaith McGinley, Paul Moran and Jamie Goggins
Additional contact information
Orlaith McGinley: MaREI Centre, Ryan Institute & School of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, National University of Ireland, H91 TK33 Galway, Ireland
Paul Moran: MaREI Centre, Ryan Institute & School of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, National University of Ireland, H91 TK33 Galway, Ireland
Jamie Goggins: MaREI Centre, Ryan Institute & School of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, National University of Ireland, H91 TK33 Galway, Ireland

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-26

Abstract: Quantifying the wider benefits of energy efficient building retrofits is crucial to incentivise householder retrofit investments. This research recognises the value of key performance indicators (KPIs) for assessing and demonstrating retrofitting benefits and provides an assessment of KPIs for evaluating retrofits. An integrated framework for evaluating retrofits using a set of economic, social, and environmental KPIs is proposed. This KPI framework is then applied in a pre- and post-retrofit assessment of five case study dwellings located in Ireland, revealing its usefulness in demonstrating the wider benefits of retrofitting to householders, with a view to driving retrofit investment. Three of these case study dwellings had state-of-the-art retrofit technologies installed as part of the works, including heat pumps and solar PV systems. In addition to demonstrating the wider benefits of retrofitting, the framework allowed for the identification of potential causes for differences in performance of these technologies across households, as well as patterns of underperformance. Such insights are useful for the future design of these technologies and retrofit packages, as well as policy measures, which support householders in the adoption and use of these measures. The results demonstrate that householders experience various benefits from retrofitting. Showcasing the different benefits that householders receive from retrofitting, and their satisfaction with the retrofit works, can serve to de-risk retrofit investments, and inspire others to seek similar benefits through retrofitting. Applying the developed framework to a larger, comparable sample size, can distinguish the retrofit packages, which perform best across the KPIs and various household profiles. Furthermore, the application of the developed framework can serve as an evidence base for retrofit designers, contractors, and policy makers in the design of retrofit packages and policy measures that will maximise the benefit for householders.

Keywords: key performance indicators (KPIs); energy efficient retrofits; residential buildings; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/1/334/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/1/334/ (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:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:1:p:334-:d:717292

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

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