Andrew P Mccoy

Virginia Tech (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) | VT · Virginia Center for Housing Research (VCHR) at Virginia Tech

This paper reports findings from a manufactured housing development located in a mixed-humid climate zone (CZ 4 A, Virginia, USA). The research employs a multi-step case study methodology to 1) measure building air leakage in-situ in three use cases (existing, factory, enhanced) per ASTM E779 Standard Test Method for Determining Air Leakage Rate by...

Housing starts have never recovered from the Great Recession and therefore the lack of inventory has driven up pricing resulting in a crisis of affordable options in the market. Both the United States (US) and Portuguese housing markets are experiencing this crisis driven by high costs of financing, land, materials, labor, and a limited supply chai...

This study reports an empirical analysis of an all-electric, Net zero energy housing (NZEH) development located in a mixed-humid climate zone (4A, Virginia, USA). Circuit-level energy monitors were used to measure energy consumption and energy production data (solar photovoltaic) at 1-hr intervals in six identical apartments over 24 months. The stu...

This study reports an empirical analysis of an all-electric, Net Zero Energy Housing (NZEH) development located in a mixed-humid climate zone (4A, Virginia, USA). Circuit-level energy monitors were used to measure energy consumption and energy production data (solar photovoltaic) at 1-hr intervals in six identical apartments over 24 months. The stu...

The vast number of facility management systems, home automation systems, and the ever-increasing number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices are in constant need of environmental monitoring. Indoor environment data can be utilized to improve indoor facilities and better occupants’ working and living experience, however, such data are scarce because...

The vast number of facility management systems, home automation systems, and the ever-increasing number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices are in constant need of environmental monitoring. Indoor environment data can be utilized to improve indoor facilities and better occupants' working and living experience, however, such data are scarce because...

Research on green-certified buildings has often been focused on the benefits of green standards, such as energy efficiency, smart growth, resource conservation, and health protection. Recent studies suggest the adoption of a reductionist sustainability planning language can turn green-certified houses into luxury goods, attracting White, prime-age,...

Construction has historically lagged other major industries in technological innovation. The industry’s complexity and its fragmentation among many small firms specializing in different elements of the construction process have slowed the adoption of new technologies. Most construction projects’ unique requirements have also limited many opportunit...

The United States needs comprehensive policymaking reforms that address sustainable residential development. This study investigates the feasibility of statewide zero-energy affordable housing by analyzing historical data on climate, energy use, and solar system costs in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The hypothesis examined is that the net present...

This article analyses the integration of green building with the largest low-income housing production programme in the US and the innovativeness of state housing agencies. Drawing on policy innovation literature, panel data and regression analysis are employed to quantify associations between state-level characteristics and the adoption of green b...

Smart buildings are complex systems, yet architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals often perform their work without considering the human factors of building occupants. Traditionally, the AEC industry has employed a linear design and delivery approach. As buildings become smarter, the AEC industry must adapt. To maximize human...

While many researchers have analyzed the obstacles to the diffusion of innovation in building construction, little empirical evidence has been gathered about the factors associated with U.S. homebuilders' adoption of innovative building products. In this paper, we develop a theory-driven diffusion of innovation conceptual model of homebuilders' ado...

In the year 2017, about 89% of the total energy consumed in the US was produced using non-renewable energy sources and about 44% of tenant households were cost burdened. There is currently limited research on holistic approaches to housing policy that integrate housing affordability and environmental considerations. The objective of the current stu...

In the year 2017, about 89% of the total energy consumed in the US was produced using non-renewable energy sources, and about 43% of tenant households were cost burdened. Local governments are in a unique position to facilitate green affordable housing, that could reduce cost burdens, environmental degradation, and environmental injustice. Nonethel...

Recent studies have taken different approaches to explore how climate change policies are shaped by city characteristics in the US. Yet, there is clearly a need for integration of policy adoption literature since there is not a comprehensive synthesis currently available, and the average effect of any associations between local conditions and diffe...

In the year 2017, about 89 percent of the total energy consumed in the US was produced using non-renewable energy sources, and about 43 percent of tenant households were cost-burdened. Local governments are in a unique position to facilitate green affordable housing that could reduce cost burdens, environmental degradation, and environmental injust...

In the year 2017, about 89% of the total energy consumed in the US was produced using non-renewable energy sources and about 44% of tenant households were cost burdened. There is currently limited research on holistic approaches to housing policy that integrate housing affordability and environmental considerations. The objective of the current stu...

The present article analyzes the integration of green building policy and practice with the largest low-income housing production program in the US and the innovativeness of its housing agencies. Drawing on policy innovation literature, panel data and regression analysis are employed to quantify associations between state-level characteristics and...

Problem: The curricular shift toward scientific theory along with a proliferation of distance education and practical constraints have contributed to diminishing laboratory development, in turn affecting design skills and technical competencies of students in many programs. Objective: The objective of the current study is to help guide the improvem...

Buildings are complex systems, yet architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals often perform their work without considering the human factors that affect the operational performance of the building system. The AEC industry currently employs a linear design and delivery approach, lacking verified performance standards and real-ti...

With the growing concern of climate change and more frequent and severe natural disaster events affecting the built environment, enhancing the performance and resilience of buildings has become increasingly vital. Stakeholders are seeking guidance towards improving both the individual performance of buildings and systems as well as their overall di...

Despite their impact on work performance, cognitive responses to thermal variations in buildings have not been accurately quantified. Practical limitations in individual laboratory experiments with limited participants often cause low statistical power and restrict generalizability. Thus, inconsistencies in individual studies motivate summary revie...

The United States has a long-term goal to reduce 50% of energy usage in buildings based on 2010 consumption levels. Home energy efficiency is often measured by laboratory experiments and computational simulation. Thus, there is little to no quantifiable evidence showing the extent of energy efficiency homes can achieve within the larger context of...

The U.S. government has included green building policy in affordable housing programs for years. However, little to no evidence is available to elucidate this policy's efficacy in the context of energy performance and financial savings. This paper reports a longitudinal study that investigates time effects of such policy on the energy performance i...

Our objective in this paper is to apply behavioral economic theory and evidence from market actor perception surveys to the housing industry to demonstrate a new measure of homebuilder confidence. From the literature, we identify the factors that likely influence this confidence. Then, using pilot survey data on new homebuilders, as well as renovat...

Buildings have a large impact on the environment consuming 40% of U.S. energy and 70% of U.S. electricity in 2015. Buildings are complex systems, yet architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals often perform their work lacking a formal post-occupancy feedback process that informs the efficacy of goals for building performance an...

Buildings continue to have a large impact on the environment consuming 40% of U.S. energy and 70% of U.S. electricity in 2015. Buildings are complex systems, yet architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals often perform their work lacking a formal post-occupancy feedback process that informs the efficacy of zero energy performan...

In the construction industry, recent literature has promoted a design for safety approach that discusses the benefits of considering safety from the very start of the project lifecycle. With this approach, non-construction personnel, such as owners and designers, need to work alongside constructors and subcontractors to consider safety during desig...

Energy Star, the largest voluntary housing eco-labelling programme in the US, conveys important signals to housing market actors about the energy efficiency of homes. With energy demand from housing being a significant energy consumer and contributor to climate change, gaining insight into the diffusion patterns of these certifications is an import...

Buildings account for a significant portion of energy consumption and carbon emissions around the world and increasingly scholars and practitioners are re-thinking strategies that mitigate use. This paper reports an empirical study aimed at identifying the relationship between building technology and resident behavior and the joint effects on energ...

Utilizing Building Information Modeling (BIM) for Facility Management (FM) can reduce interoperability costs during the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) phase. However, there is a barrier to successful implementation of BIM integrated FM (BIM-FM), which might be solved by the use of BIM-FM guidelines. The guidelines need to be updated with lessons...

The purpose of this study is to identify and verify possible benefits of a shift in housing policy by the State of Virginia to encourage energy efficiency in the affordable rental housing stock through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. The research addresses key issues related to the effect of housing technology and behaviour on en...

Efforts have been taken for years to minimize the occupational safety and health (OSH) risk, but the injury records remain a constant reason for worldwide concerns. Many firms often implement technology as an administrative hierarchy of control (HOC). However, technologies may also actively influence safe practices at the managerial level for admin...

In the past decades, a tremendous effort has been put into research and development of improved building systems and technologies to reduce the building energy consumption and advance energy efficiency. However, there is little to no published quantifiable evidence that assesses the energy consumption and efficiency for residential buildings with a...

A recognition grows that the root causes of occupational safety and health (OSH) incidents can be traced back to problems inherent in industry-level construction systems. Despite calls for the engagement of owners/clients, designers, and all contributors to construction projects in the OSH effort, high levels of technological, organizational, and c...

In the past decades, a tremendous effort has been put into research and development of improved building systems and technologies to reduce the building energy consumption and advance energy efficiency. However, there is little to no published quantifiable evidence that assesses the energy consumption and efficiency for residential buildings with a...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to advance knowledge on the advantages of integrating safety earlier in the construction project lifecycle. Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach is used to collect data from construction sites in the USA, which performs poorly in construction safety and health, and Australia (AU), which perform...

Safety management in construction is an integral effort and its success requires inputs from all stakeholders across design and construction phases. Effective risk mitigation relies on the concordance of all stakeholders' risk perceptions. Many researchers have noticed the discordance of risk perceptions among critical stakeholders in safe construc...

The impact of green building certification programs on the cost and energy performance of multifamily affordable housing has long been misunderstood due to a lack of data and analysis, particularly in the Southeast United States. The research presented in this report addresses this data gap by comparing a sample of green building program certified...

The construction industry experiences the greatest proportion of workplace electrical injuries globally. Much research effort has gone towards analyzing this phenomenon, yet a majority of which focused on isolated elements while ignored the work system. Modern work systems are complex, within which humans interact with technology, social structures...

Electrocution is one of the four leading causes of worker deaths in the construction sector and thus it is paramount to identify the electrocution mechanisms. This work interprets the mechanisms of an electrical accident as a chain of decision mistakes throughout the entire task process. The objective of this paper is to visualize the decision-maki...

Businesses, consumers, industry groups and governments understand the importance of innovation for continued economic success and improvements in quality of life. However, innovation remains an opaque topic. A paradox exists in the construction industry at-large; using innovation is vital yet challenges the value to individual organizations. This p...

Residential construction market remains vulnerable to the environment. The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry now recognizes natural hazards as an increasing threat to the vitality of the built environment. Resilience becomes a central concept for assessing environment adaptations; however, how to assess resilience remains e...

The construction industry has adopted control measures of electrical hazards for decades, however construction workers are still electrocuted in the workplace every year. This problem leads to a need for assessing the quality of control measures. The goal of this study is to assess the control measures of electrical hazards using a perspective of h...

Businesses, consumers, industry groups, and governments understand the importance of innovation and the innovation process for continued economic success and improvements in quality of life. However, innovation remains an opaque topic. A paradox exists in housing at-large; using innovation is vital yet accounting for the value to individual organiz...

We analyze the selection of high efficiency windows by builders of new housing units in the United States from 2000 to 2010. Windows are among the five most important technologies impacting energy use in structures. Focusing on windows provides insights into the decisions that result in energy efficient houses and the factors affecting those decisi...

This work uses a mixed methods research design to explore how social sustainability outcomes are impacted by early supplier integration and associated strategies for successfully implementing this integration. Much of the literature in the area focuses on environmental factors, while social sustainability factors such as worker and consumer safety...

The purpose of this report is to identify and verify possible benefits of a shift in housing policy by the Virginia Housing development Authority (VHDA) to encourage energy efficiency (EE) in the affordable rental stock in Virginia through the low income housing tax credit (LIHTC) program. The research addresses key issues related to Energy Efficie...

The integration of technology and team collaboration is increasingly becoming a critical juncture in construction education of the work environment. Through literature review and interviews, the authors find that students equipped with knowledge of BIM technology is not the ultimate goal, while the collaborative process of using BIM to solve practi...

Green and energy-efficient technology and certification diffusion into the housing market could be significantly attenuated by limited or missing information. In this paper, we analyze this problem and respond to the question ''what diffusion patterns would we expect based on the problem of valuation of green homes in the absence of comparable attr...

This paper presents an overview of the most current topics of interest related to the field of housing and residential building construction. It addresses issues related to industry-wide residential construction trends, policies, innovative technology adoption, construction management, sustainability, energy efficiency, building science, and the ne...

Residential energy consumption in the USA has been marked by a steady growth over the past decades in spite of the implementation of various energy efficiency policies. To develop effective energy efficiency policies for the residential sector, it is important to understand the causal factors and their effects on residential energy consumption. The...

Electrocution is among the 'fatal four' in US construction according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Learning from failures is believed to be an effective path to success, with deaths being the most serious system failures. This paper examined the failures in electrical safety by analysing all electrical fatality investigation...

Social network analysis was used to model information exchange networks in construction case studies in the United States of America and Australia/New Zealand. For each case, the quality of work safety and health (WHS) risk control outcomes was measured. This measurement was based on an established “hierarchy of control” in which risk controls are...

More than 60% of occupied homes in the U.S. were constructed before 1980, often wasting up to 60% of the consumed energy due to building envelope and systems deficits. Homeowners spend billions of dollars annually on energy bills, and there is a potential to dramatically reduce this expenditure. This return can be achieved through energy retrofit s...

The popularity of green construction professional credentials has increased dramatically in recent years in the United States and abroad, due in part to the mainstream development of sustainable construction in the building design and construction community. The aim was to compare the perceived value of three broad-spectrum green building professio...

The research purpose is to conduct a preliminary investigation to determine whether the information gleaned from academic literature aligns with the impressions and attitudes of actual construction industry stakeholders to better understand the semantic and circumstantial disconnect between industry and academia. For this purpose, the researchers d...

There is growing debate over the need for academic research to produce applied. For example, funding agencies, such as the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) are emphasizing direct relationships with industry, and the need to contain research methods that are targeted, useful, and mutually beneficial. Applied academic rese...

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The aim of this paper is to propose and demonstrate an approach for exploring diffusion barriers specific to innovative green building products. Innovative green building products aim at reducing environmental impacts during a product's entire life-cycle, helping mitigate the substantial environmental degradation caused by current construction patt...

Data from the US Dept. of Labor indicate that workers in the US construction industry encounter the highest risk of electrical hazards. To establish a hierarchy of electrical hazards and controls, this paper aims to identify hazardous patterns for electrocution in the US construction industry through a quantitative approach. The identified patterns...

This work provides an analysis of the applicability of two image-based three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction techniques - (1) four-dimensional augmented reality (D4AR) 3D reconstruction software and (2) phototourism applications - for remote site construction project planning. Remote sites present uncertainty to construction project planning throug...

Safety climate survey instruments are a mechanism to measure safety attitudes and analyze differences between groups. In construction, the focus of most safety climate literature is on construction personnel. There is a growing body of literature however that discusses how personnel at points throughout the life of a project affect safety on constr...

Purpose This work provides validation of a model for successful commercialisation of innovative products for residential construction. The development of the model is motivated by the persistence of failed commercialisations due to inadequate business plans. This paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The current paper val...

This paper is a case study of the key safety decision points in the construction of a large wastewater overflow tank. The key firms in the construction supply chain were identified, and key roles within these firms were conducted to find the key decision points in regards to safety on the project and the impacts of these decisions. The results reve...

Purpose This paper aims to report on data from case studies of development process, and a survey of use patterns over ten years, for 13 highly innovative products. While the paper does not claim concurrent commercialization (CC) as a universal solution, it aims to highlight significant correlates between management best practice, concurrent commerc...

The US construction industry is often characterized as laggard in its rate of adoption (innovativeness) for innovative construction products and techniques. In contrast, European construction is often considered advanced. A trip to Spain and Portugal provides a personal lens through which to view European adoption of innovation, albeit a limited vi...

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to present part of continuing research on the challenges of entrepreneurial business ventures to commercialize innovative construction products in the residential construction industry. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use workshop and survey data on the role of the developer/builder to further develop th...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer a commercialization framework that outlines phases and functional areas for technical and business practices in getting innovative products to market. The development of this framework was motivated by a history of failures of entrepreneurial business ventures in the commercialization of construction pr...

We describe the development of a new model of the commercialization of innova- tive products in the homebuilding industry. Our research is motivated by previous HUD- sponsored2 studies of numerous failures of entrepreneurial business ventures in the commerciali- zation of such products, which were caused primarily by poor business strategies. The g...

This paper presents a new model for integrating research, education, and outreach in a synergistic way to leverage the interests of all parties while providing new research and educational opportunities. Developed to support discovery, learning, and en-gagement in the context of innovation, sustainability, and the built environment, this model is p...

Homebuilders are continuously scanning their environment to find the latest product and process improvements in residential construction. Notwithstanding the Internet, information is still decentralized among many sources without meaningful differentiation, hierarchy, or summarization. The authors believe that if this information is graphically des...