Building Ownership, Renovation Investments, and Energy Performance—A Study of Multi-Family Dwellings in Gothenburg

Mikael Mangold, Magnus Österbring, Conny Overland, Tim Johansson and Holger Wallbaum
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Mikael Mangold: City Development, Research Institutes of Sweden, 41261 Gothenburg, Sweden
Magnus Österbring: Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden
Conny Overland: Department of Business Administration, University of Gothenburg, 40530 Gothenburg, Sweden
Tim Johansson: Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, 97187 Luleå, Sweden
Holger Wallbaum: Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 5, 1-16

Abstract: The European building stock was renewed at a rapid pace during the period 1950–1975. In many European countries, the building stock from this time needs to be renovated, and there are opportunities to introduce energy efficiency measures in the renovation process. Information availability and increasingly available analysis tools make it possible to assess the impact of policy and regulation. This article describes methods developed for analyzing investments in renovation and energy performance based on building ownership and inhabitant socio-economic information developed for Swedish authorities, to be used for the Swedish national renovations strategy in 2019. This was done by analyzing measured energy usage and renovation investments made during the last 30 years, coupled with building specific official information of buildings and resident area characteristics, for multi-family dwellings in Gothenburg (N = 6319). The statistical analyses show that more costly renovations lead to decreasing energy usage for heating, but buildings that have been renovated during the last decades have a higher energy usage when accounting for current heating system, ownership, and resident socio-economic background. It is appropriate to include an affordability aspect in larger renovation projects since economically disadvantaged groups are over-represented in buildings with poorer energy performance.

Keywords: renovation extent; energy retrofitting; rent affordability; tenure; energy performance certificate; decision support (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:5:p:1684-:d:148385

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