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In spite of the large potential and existing efforts to foster energy efficiency in the residential sector, much remains to be achieved. This may be partially due to the many barriers and market failures faced by energy efficiency, which are even greater in this sector. In particular, informational failures seem to be pervasive and relevant in this...
Citations
... Approximately 25% of CO2 emissions and 30% of world energy use are related to buildings [21]. Many international institutions encourage energy efficiency as the best tool to manage energy demand and transition to a low-carbon future, leading governments to emphasize and promote it through various policies [22]. ...
Buildings have a significant environmental impact due to their reliance on nonrenewable energy sources. To address this concern, computer software is utilized to estimate building energy requirements. Building Information Modeling (BIM) has emerged as a valuable tool in this process, with BIM 6D offering a particularly beneficial feature. BIM 6D provides a comprehensive energy model of the building, simulating its actual energy performance. By analyzing natural and artificial lighting systems, particularly daylighting, BIM 6D can assist in optimizing energy efficiency. Despite being underutilized, the potential of this feature to enhance building sustainability is noteworthy. BIM 6D facilitates well-informed design and operational decisions for both new constructions and the renovation of existing buildings. The study examines design criteria such as building orientation, window orientation, size, and type to optimize energy consumption in a bungalow in the Sangli region of Maharashtra, underscoring the importance of energy-efficient buildings to local communities. Energy analysis and optimization are conducted using the Autodesk Insight tool. The methodology involves creating 3D models with Autodesk Revit Architecture software and performing various analyses, including Building Energy Modeling (BEM) simulations, Illuminance Analysis, Solar Access, and Daylight Autonomy assessments. The analysis findings indicate that low-e glass windows of small size and oriented between 0° and 90° significantly enhance energy efficiency under certain conditions, while changing the window type does not affect the analysis. The paper concludes with recommendations for window orientation and size to enhance energy performance in residential buildings, contributing to the broader goal of sustainable and energy-efficient construction practices. This study provides valuable insights for designing energy-efficient residential buildings in rural areas, addressing awareness gaps, and promoting sustainable construction practices.
... Primary differences are that the study by Wilson et al. spans the United States using the ResStock™ model [20], while that by Wei et al. focuses on climate zones in California, includes renewable generation, and considers low-cost paths to zero net energy. Other examples include the examination of energy efficiency, weatherization, electrification, and onsite renewable generation to a community in Denver, CO [21], the effect of building electrification on the Texas electric grid [22], passive cooling measures for multifamily buildings in India [23,24], and numerous other studies focused on different facets of energy efficiency, weatherization, and electrification applied to BEMs [25][26][27]. ...
This study examines the impact of low-income assistance and electrification programs on a disadvantaged community in Southern California. An urban building energy model is paired with an AC power flow and electric distribution system degradation model to evaluate how the cost of energy, carbon emissions, and pollutant emissions change after applying building weatherization, energy efficiency, and electrification measures to the community. Results show that traditional weatherization and energy efficiency measures (upgrading lighting and appliances, improving insulation to current building code standards) are the most cost-effective, reducing the cost of energy and carbon emissions by 10-20 % for the current community. Heat pump water heaters offer a 40 % average reduction in carbon emissions and almost 50 % decrease in criteria pollutant emissions, but at a cost increase of 17-22 %. Appliance electrification also reduces carbon emissions 5-10 % but increases cost by 7 % to 25 %. For reducing carbon, government programs that support building electrification are most cost-effective when they combine switching from natural gas to electricity with high efficiency system. Electrifying hot water and appliances effectively reduces emissions but must be paired with improved low-income assistance programs to prevent increased energy burden for low-income families. The urban building energy model and electrical distribution simulations used in this study can be replicated in other low-income communities.
... They find evidence that "individuals who are more lossaverse, or more risk-averse, or who exhibit a lower time discount factor" are less likely to have adopted energy efficiency technologies, though they admit the evidence is not fully robust. They assume throughout that there is an "energy efficiency paradox", adopting this notion from writers such as Allcott and Mullainathan (2010), Allcott (2011), Gerarden et al., (2015Gerarden et al., ( , 2017 and Ramos et al. (2015), who in turn adopted the phrase from Jaffe and Stavins (1994a). While their findings indicate that energy-efficiency renovation can be inhibited by behavioural economic factors, this does not necessarily support the idea that it is an economically viable activity that is being under-used. ...
Germany needs to steeply increase the rate of deep energy-efficiency renovation of its old buildings, to meet climate goals. The government has long maintained that deep renovation to a specified “minimum” energy efficiency standard is economically viable: that the costs are paid back, through energy savings, over the technical lifetime of the energy-efficiency measures. Many private and public organisations support and promulgate this view. It accords with a stream of academic literature which suggests that the under-adoption of energy efficiency measures is a paradox indicating market failures and economically irrational behaviour by property owners. This paper offers cost–benefit analyses of 44 case study scenarios to test whether deep renovation in Germany pays back in monetary terms. These include both specific buildings and Germany-wide averages of classes of buildings. It uses current construction, finance and energy costs, and takes account of inflation, discount rates and opportunity costs. None of the scenarios are economically viable in monetary terms, and the average payback after 25 years is around 22.5%. Sensitivity analyses suggest payback would only be achieved using improbable parameter values. Energy-efficiency renovation is necessary but promoting it needs to take account of these realities.
... Overall, the contents of the regulations mentioned above have been implemented by EU countries and translated into a variety of commandand-control tools at first, but mostly incentive policies and measures later. As the players deal with several market barriers and information asymmetries in the implementation of building retrofit, incentives play a significant role in overcoming them [2,24,63,108]. ...
... Although the magnitude of the energy-efficiency gap has been questioned (Allcott and Greenstone, 2012), energy efficiency remains a key policy. In an effort to improve awareness of energy efficiency, various information tools are in place (Markandya et al., 2015;Ramos et al., 2015;. Among the most well-known and widely adopted are energy efficiency labels (Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program, 2005; Energy Efficient Strategies, 2014). ...
It has been shown that consumers often underinvest in energy efficiency despite net benefits over the longer term. One possible explanation is that they do not properly understand energy information when provided in physical units, as in most energy labels. Prior studies have investigated the effect of reframing energy information into monetary units. Outcomes are mixed, and it is unclear whether this is due to the use of different products, methodologies or to studies being conducted in countries with different energy prices and labelling standards. This paper overcomes this ambiguity by testing the effect of providing monetary energy information using the same experiment in a multi-country setting. Results show that the intervention’s effectiveness varies considerably across countries. Moreover, they highlight the presence of within-country heterogeneities based on demographic characteristics, with monetary information being more effective for high-usage households but seemingly crowding out the motivation of those whose purchasing decisions depend on environmental considerations.
... Discontinuities in modeled and actual behaviors of households can be attributed to the emergence of human behavior at the intersection of societal context and personal attributes of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors (Fredriks et al. 2015), making heuristically formulated prediction of behavior less useful than empirical and contextually framed data as a basis for modeling decisions. An illustration of this discontinuity can be witnessed in the difference between assumed "rational" decision making in households and actual market adoption of energy efficient technologies (Jaffe and Stavins, 1994;Ramos et al., 2015), also known as the Energy Efficiency Paradox. Several scholars thus highlight the need for more of a social science-based inquiry into understanding factors that influence decision-making patterns in homes, particularly related to enhancing energy efficiency (Kastner and Stern, 2015;Moglia et al., 2017;Sovacool et al., 2015). ...
To meet climate goals, significant reductions in residential building greenhouse gas emissions are necessary. Individual and household decisions regarding appliances and building technologies influence residential energy use. To investigate household energy behavior and technology choice, we created and analyzed a robust household survey (10,000 US residents) focused on resident preferences, motivations for changes, barriers, and household energy decisions. Regional differences emerged in preferences, motivations, and energy decisions, with the West dominating in overall adoption of decarbonization technologies. Reducing harmful health and environmental impacts were key motivators in the West. Primary fuel infrastructure was a driver for HVAC, water heating, and kitchen technology choices, although opportunities emerged for increased decarbonization-friendly technology uptake in southern regions with existing electric infrastructure. Kitchen preferences and upgrades revealed opportunities for decarbonization programs to focus on kitchens. Program participation rates are low (9%) and were lowest in the Southeast and Central Southwest (~7%). To narrow the large gap between willingness and actual adoption of decarbonization technologies (40%), we recommend integrating regional themes into messaging to increase program participation rates and key technology uptake nationally.
... PEH can be planned and adjusted to the daily routines of each individual (Huang et al., 2020). Indeed, families with PEH invest more in energy-efficient appliances (Busic-Sontic et al., 2017;Ramos et al., 2015); larger families with children are more likely to save water (Berk et al., 1993;Martínez-Espiñeira et al., 2014). Some authors (Gould et al., 2016) argued that individuals had successfully adopted waste management. ...
Consumers are the true agents of transformation in the circular economy. By making conscious and sustainable choices, they drive the development of circular business models, challenging the status quo and inspiring change for a more sustainable future. The main purpose of this paper is to assess the role of consumers in the circular economy as drivers of the development of circular business models. In detail, we explore whether Portuguese citizens make circular consumption choices and what factors influence these choices. An online questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 826 Portuguese. The quantitative analysis was performed using the Partial Least Square (PLS) method. Overall, we found that: (i) both pro-environmental habits and environmental concerns positively influence their circular consumption choices, (ii) pro-environmental habits positively influence consumers’ greenwashing perception, and (iii) greenwashing perception highlights environmental concerns. This study demonstrates that by adopting pro-environmental habits, consumers can play a central role in transforming companies’ traditional business models into circular business models. Consequently, a model is proposed where consumers’ motivations for adopting circular behaviors are used to convert the companies’ business model from linear to circular. The model emphasizes the active participation of consumers.
... At the time that generating information, the Internet triggers information explosions and promotes the growth of various information indexes. It enhances the efficiency of information collection by reducing associated costs, allowing individuals to quickly and accurately obtain targeted information (Ramos et al., 2015). By eliminating barriers of time and distance, the Internet enables instant communication and information sharing, overcoming geographical constraints. ...
... Hence, the best kilowatt hour is the one not consumed, and greater engagement of consumers in the system to become more energy-efficient, i.e., reducing their consumption, becomes essential for the sustainable transition of the energy sector (Gielen et al., 2019;Goulden et al., 2014;Parag, 2015;Wittmann and Yildiz, 2013). Yet, the theoretical potential for energy consumption reduction remains largely unexploited in practice (Almeida et al., 2011;Heidari et al., 2018;Ramos et al., 2015;Rosenow et al., 2018). ...
Emission reduction in the energy sector is built on two main pillars: a shift from fossil fuels to renewable sources and using available energy more efficiently. While renewable electricity production experienced a substantial acceleration in capacity building in the past ten years, energy demand-despite longstanding policy efforts-is still constantly on the rise worldwide. This paper combines both aspects analysing whether different (co-) ownership types in renewables in the residential sector are associated with an increased inclination to invest in energy-efficient appliances or to behave more energy consciously. To do so, we estimate an analysis of covari-ance using a sample with demographic and electricity consumption data from 1454 German households. Our results show that, in general, (co-)owners of renewable energy installations are more willing to invest in energy-efficient technologies than people who are not involved with renewables. However, there are differences between (co-)ownership types. People who have the choice between self-consumption and sale to third parties or the grid, i.e., fully-fledged prosumers, show the strongest inclination to invest in energy efficiency. Further, when analysing energy savings through adapted behaviour, solely this (co-)ownership group shows an increased propensity for conscious energy consumption behaviour.
... An underlining principle of these systems is to make energy visible for occupants [66] as under normal conditions there is a lack of awareness and knowledge of energy consumption in the household. The design of these systems must follow behavior model principles to present effective feedback information to the occupants to achieve engagement followed by persuasion [183,184]. ...
The development of renewable energy systems offers a potential solution to energy consumption in the residential sector. These systems face many barriers and challenges regarding the nature of home energy demand and behaviors of household occupants. These barriers are discussed in innovation theory, which describes how people assess new technologies. A systematic literature review of 123 journals was conducted to explore the interrelationship between energy systems, home energy demand and occupant practices. This identified key gaps in the literature and important takeaways from past research showing the limitations of renewable energy systems in integrating into everyday lives. There are numerous personal and social barriers that inhibit behavior change and limit the penetration of renewable systems. Additionally, the development of social norms and institutional rhythms have resulted in people living in a lock-in lifestyle, with limited flexibility for change. This review discusses the role of technology, consumers and policies, and how they must all interact to create a sustainable and effective energy solution to this climate emergency. The next step is to reevaluate the design of home automation and energy management systems to consider the impacts of different lifestyles and routines.