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Driving forward a low-carbon built environment: The impact of energy context and environmental concerns on building renovation
Abstract
The main focus of this paper is to understand the behavioral obstacles to investing in energy efficiency in the French residential sector. We pay particular attention to the role of environmental concerns and perception of energy context. To achieve this, we develop a nested logit model to investigate the determinants of energy renovation behavior. The empirical analysis is based on an original survey conducted in 2018, which represents French homeowners. The findings of the study reveal several important insights. Firstly, environmentally conscious individuals are significantly more likely to undertake energy renovation measures. Secondly, in line with previous research, the analysis confirms that risk aversion decreases the likelihood of investing in energy efficiency measures. Thirdly, sociodemographic factors and dwelling characteristics also play a role in shaping energy renovation behavior. Overall, these results have implications for policymakers, emphasizing the importance of reducing the risk faced by households in order to promote energy efficiency investments and facilitate the transition to a low-carbon economy.
... housing stock, income) are more likely to effectively promote energy sufficiency behaviours and investments in energy efficiency (Belaid, 2024). However, for this to happen, understanding the drivers of choices related to energy efficiency and sufficiency becomes crucial (Belaïd and Massié, 2023a). ...
... Behavioural economics provides a valuable theoretical framework, offering causal evidence-based insights to understand human behaviour, including energy sufficiency and energy efficiency choices (Della Valle and Bertoldi, 2022). These evidence-based insights help us understand why some individuals willingly invest in energy efficiency or reduce their energy consumption, even without financial incentives, as they are intrinsically motivated to do so (Chersoni et al., 2022), e.g. because they see investing in energy efficiency as a way to protect the environment (Belaïd and Massié, 2023a). ...
Policy-makers can address climate change by promoting energy sufficiency and energy efficiency. They can do so through not only traditional economic interventions but also behavioural ones, such as nudges and boosts. However, some individuals are not free to decide how to engage in these pro-environmental strategies. The energy poor may be prevented from choosing options enabling them to meet their energy needs while emitting less. In this context, a combination of financial and behavioural interventions might help achieve both climate change and energy poverty goals. This study introduces a modified public bad game to investigate experimentally the situation in which individuals can choose how to obtain energy services while producing negative externalities. We implement a behavioural intervention using a practice-based boost to empower the understanding of action interdependence and test whether it increases pro-environmental choices. Additionally, we model the income scarcity underlying energy poverty and test the effect of a financial intervention, both alone and combined with the practice-based boost, on pro-environmental choices. Although we observe no positive impact of the boost on pro-environmental choices, we find that a financial intervention alone is effective at addressing energy poverty while also promoting pro-environmental choices.
... Results reveal that house owners care about the negative environmental externalities associated with their residential energy use, suggesting that people are aware of the repercussions of their choices on the environment. Belaïd and Massié (2023b), using a sample of French homeowners, find that environmentally conscious individuals are significantly more likely to undertake energy renovation measures. On the one hand, Aravena et al. (2016) find no positive relation between the environmental benefits of energy efficiency measures and individuals' intention to adopt such measures in Ireland. ...
This paper explores households’ decision-making process to undertake green retrofitting investments, with the aim to identify the key behavioural drivers to adoption. We developed a discrete choice experiment survey and collected data from a sample of 434 individuals to explore the influence of monetary and non-monetary incentives on energy saving investment choices, focusing on the case of Italy, where a tax relief scheme (the so-called Superbonus) was introduced in 2020 to encourage green retrofitting investments. Our results show that the level of savings on energy bills, the environmental sustainability of the intervention and the comfort achieved all similarly contribute to adopt energy saving measures. Tax incentives, differently, were found to be less important drivers, except for those respondents who have a high level of green retrofitting cognition, suggesting a pivotal role of education and knowledge in driving choices. Our findings also indicate that communication matters: we show that green retrofitting decisions are influenced by the non-technical communication of the environmental benefits, while the use of technical expressions is found to be ineffective. These results are relevant to guide more efficient policy design and point to the need to combine targeted tax interventions with communication to encourage the uptake of energy saving measures.
... With the rapid development of urbanization, the energy consumption problems of existing residential buildings are becoming increasingly prominent [1], especially the heating energy consumption of HVAC systems, which brings enormous pressure to energy supply and environmental quality. ...
To achieve green and environmentally friendly urban construction, it is proposed to study a key technology for the green transformation of existing residential buildings in densely populated urban areas. Firstly, using a time series autoregressive model, achieve energy consumption prediction for HVAC heating. Secondly, based on multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm, energy-saving control of HVAC systems was achieved. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed key technology was verified through experiments. The results of this article indicate that the green transformation of existing residential buildings in densely populated urban areas is necessary and feasible, and the application of key technologies can effectively reduce energy consumption and improve the quality of the living environment.
... Climate change, global warming and their adverse effects on the environment have become one of the most pressing matter Umar et al., 2022;Arfaoui et al., 2023a). Issues such as water shortage, the appearance of viruses, disappearance of species, and the rising of extreme weather events have triggered profound concerns and sounded alarm bells for humanity (Arora et al., 2018;Belaïd and Massié, 2023;. Burning of fossil fuels (i.e., coal, oil, and natural gas) to generate energy, release large amounts of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) into the air, is considered as the main driving force of global warming and climate change (Chevallier et al., 2021). ...
We analyze tail risk dependence between Green Investment Funds (GIFs) and climate risks, emphasizing diversification benefits, safe-haven, and hedge features from 2009 to 2022. Our methodology, using AGDCC-GARCH, time-varying optimal copula (TVOC), and conditional diversification benefits (CDB), reveal various tail dependence regimes, showcasing the role of GIFs in extreme climate events. Symmetrical co-movement, observed during COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine war, indicates no asymmetric tail dependence. Notably, GIFs offer substantial diversification benefits against climate risks, providing insights for investors and policymakers to formulate proactive strategies in line with sustainability goals.
The rebound effect refers to the phenomenon where energy efficiency improvements lead to increased energy
consumption, offsetting some of the expected energy savings. This article aims to estimate the direct rebound
effect of residential electricity consumption in Saudi Arabia and explores potential solutions to mitigate its
impact. Understanding the magnitude of the rebound effect is crucial for policymakers to develop effective
energy conservation strategies. This study employs a time-series modeling approach, using a dataset covering 31
years, 1990–2021, and four regions within Saudi Arabia, incorporating various socioeconomic and energyrelated variables. The magnitude of the rebound effect in residential electricity consumption in the Kingdom,
which varies across regions, ranges from 41% to 71%. Since the inception of the first wave of the energy price
reform in 2016, the Kingdom has witnessed a power consumption rebound in the residential sector totaling 39.02
TWh (6.5 Twh per annum), and a total of 28.13 Mt. in CO2 equivalent emissions (4.69 Mt. in CO2 equivalent per
annum) during the period of 2016–2021. These findings add to the existing literature on the rebound effect,
further enriching our understanding of this complex phenomenon and its implications. They also provide
valuable insights for policymakers and energy planners in Saudi Arabia, helping them develop effective strategies
to minimize the rebound effect and promote energy conservation.
This paper explains the importance of environmental care for the growth and development of the global world and how One Belt One Road Initiative (OBOR) can help to connect Asia, Europe, and Africa for economic cooperation and long-term sustainability. Paper, based on bibliometric analysis and utilizing Web of Science Core Collection database for calculation, summarizes total OBOR publications in terms of quantity, citations, regions, disciplines, institutes and explains about the most productive countries. Results reveal that total OBOR papers indexed in Web of Science was found 2508 where there were 1335 articles and 854 proceedings papers marking 87.3% of total OBOR research. We find the most productive direction of environmental science and global climate change and work related to environmental policies. Results show that China has contributed 73.3% (1755 publications) to global OBOR publication and have received 69.3% of all citations to “One Belt One Road” publications. Highest average citation level was from Canada, Portugal, and Spain while China’s average citations were quite low though very close to average world level. Internationally collaborated publications had more citations than the publications prepared by authors of one country. The paper concludes that environmental concerns should be kept in mind while focusing on the growth and development.
Eco‐community Development (ECD) is a specific embodiment of city sustainability and ecological civilization construction at local scale, and residents are one of the core stakeholders. They engage in ECD through various activities and their environmental behavior is the result of the interaction of “human” and “environment”. The main focus of this study is to measure residents' environmental behavior and explore its influencing factors. Previous studies have limited implications to measure residents' participation intensity and give less attention to explore the impact of “environment” factors on people's environmental behavior, especially the influence of situational factors. Public environmental facilities and activities (PEFA) are important supporting measures in communities and the main type of situational factors. In this context, we initially propose “Participation Intensity (PI)” to measure residents' environmental behavior from the processes of household lifestyle, consumption, recreation and social interaction. Then, we apply OLS regression model to analyze its determinants based on a questionnaire survey to 586 residents in Dongying City, Shandong Province in China. The findings show that residents' PI varies and PEFA are powerful predictors. Furthermore, residents' psychological factors, including concern and attitude to ECD and their satisfaction on the role of neighborhood committee, as well as socio‐demographic characteristics, including gender, education level and length of residence also play important roles on PI. Our study provides a new perspective for understanding residents' participation in community environmental governance and suggests useful references for promoting ECD.
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As most countries strive to go carbon neutral by 2050, promoting energy efficiency in buildings is a critical step toward achieving this objective. Here, we propose an innovative lab experiment with a large sample of 306 participants to evaluate the role of informational instruments in shaping individuals' preferences for energy efficiency. To analyze the data, we use a rigorous empirical approach consisting of probit regression and propensity score matching. Our findings suggest that motivational feedback positively and significantly affects energy efficiency preference. We also find that older people are relatively less likely to prefer energy efficiency, as are those who contribute less to an environmental association and those who are more risk-taking and impatient. With lower significance, we also observe that households more confident in government policies' efficiency are more inclined to opt for energy efficiency. Additionally, our study makes a methodological contribution by demonstrating the usefulness of probit regression and propensity score matching in analyzing complex data and determining a causal relationship pertaining to energy-related behavior. Our results have important implications for policymakers and practitioners seeking to promote sustainable building practices and reduce energy consumption in the residential sector.
This paper examines the factors that play a role in shaping modern energy transition in Saudi
Arabia, a particularly hydrocarbon-rich country. We base our analysis on the three lenses of the
multi-level perspective (MLP) approach: landscape, regime, and niche. The findings indicate that
the interaction between external (enforcement of international climate treaties and concerns
about the potential adverse impacts of accelerated global energy transition) and internal factors
(growing domestic energy consumption and the rise of GHG emissions) play a significant role in
shaping Saudi Arabia modern energy transition: one that evolved from a cautious approach to a
progressive one. The findings indicate that niche and landscape factors play a minimal role in
exerting any pressure on sociotechnical regimes, and the success of the clean energy transition in
Saudi Arabia is conditional on direct government support. Aligning landscape, regime, and niche
developments are recommended to ensure a holistic energy transition
Energy poverty is a new growing dimension of inequality in both developed and developing economies. Here, we develop an empirical model to examine the linkage between fuel poverty, income, and high housing costs in developing countries. Our analysis focuses on Egypt, a country that has undergone rapid development and significant energy reforms in recent years. Employing a probit and ordered multinomial framework to data from the Egyptian HIECS Survey, a nationally represenntative sample of both households and dwellings, we estimate the fuel, income, and housing cost-induced poverty extent and their key determinants. Our results show that households with low income, high energy, and high housing expenses represent approximately 16.4% of the total population, and 7.44% have low income, high energy, and low housing expenses. Our findings on critical factors driving LIHC poverty types (e.g., house type and family size) have some important policy implications for understanding the fuel poverty phenomenon and inequality reduction in Egypt, not only for the LIHC definition but also for any indicator of (fuel) poverty involving the posthousing (energy cost) concept.
With the recovery of the world economy following the easing of restrictions designed to contain COVID-19, energy demand has surged, even as natural gas stocks have run dangerously low. In addition to the reduced investment in upstream energy resources, infrastructure and maintenance since the outbreak of COVID-19, the situation is exacerbated by supply constraints. This situation has triggered one of the first significant energy shocks of the green era and exposed the fragilities of the premature greening of energy system processes. A recent study indicates that 80 million European households are struggling to stay warm, and the recent spike in energy costs is expected to aggravate the problem. Here, we examine the impact of the energy-price boom on the state of energy poverty in Europe. This paper highlights how energy prices and the green transition may exacerbate the energy poverty trap in Europe. It emphasizes one of the downside effects of poorly designed climate policies. This discussion offers insights and important policy implications that may help trigger debates on energy poverty in developing countries. It argues that poorly designed climate policy may initiate new forms of inequalities and reaffirm existing ones by undermining the foundation of individuals' capabilities. It also reveals a pivotal shift in the underlying drivers of countries' future success in addressing climate change, eliminating energy poverty, and achieving energy justice. The analysis strengthens the case that climate policies must go hand-in-hand with inequality and energy poverty mitigation.
This paper develops a pseudo-panel approach to examine household electricity demand behavior through the household life cycle and its response to income variations to help strengthen the energy policy-making process. Our empirical methodology is based on three rich independent microdata surveys (the National Housing Surveys), which are representative of the French housing sector. The resulted sample covers the 2006–2016 period. Using within estimations, this paper finds striking evidence that the income elasticity of French residential electricity demand is 0.22, averaged over our four cohorts of generations. In light of other works, our estimate stands in the lower range. The empirical results also show that residential electricity consumption follows an inverted U-shaped distribution as a function of the age of the household’s head. Most notably, it appears that households at the mid-point of their life cycle are relatively the largest consumers of electricity. This outcome has important implications for policy-making. Any public policy aimed at reducing household energy consumption should consider this differentiation in consumption according to the position of households over the life cycle, and therefore target as priority households at the highest level of consumption.
This paper investigates the key factors affecting household energy expenditure in Egypt. Based upon the latest 2015 Egyptian HIECS Survey, we develop a quantile regression model with an innovative variable selection approach via the adaptive lasso regularization technique to untangle the spectrum of household energy expenditure. Unsurprisingly, income, age, household size, housing size, and employment status are salient predictors for energy expenditure. Housing characteristics have a moderate impact, while socio-economic attributes have a much larger one. The most significant variations in household energy expenditures in Egypt are mainly due to variations in income, household size, and housing type. Our findings document substantial differences in household energy expenditure, originating from the asymmetric tails of the energy expenditure distribution. This outcome highlights the added value of implementing quantile regression methods. Our empirical results have various interesting policy implications regarding residential energy efficiency and carbon emissions reduction in Egypt. It proposes that targeting policies to specific households can improve the effectiveness of energy efficiency policies. These policies could combine both supply-side interventions, such as reducing energy services’ cost and demand-side policies for energy-intensive consumers.
This article provides new evidence on various factors that affect residential energy consumption in France. We model the consumption of residential energy in dwellings and apply a bottom-up statistical approach. Our quantile regression model uses an innovative variable selection method via the adaptive elastic net regularization technique. The empirical estimates are based on responses to the PHEBUS survey. The aim is to untangle the effects of dwelling, socioeconomic and behavior-related factors on the household energy consumption, for different levels of energy use. Our findings demonstrate that cross-sectional variation in residential energy consumption is a function of the building's technical characteristics and the household's socioeconomic attributes and behavior. The analysis suggests that the effect of the household's dwelling, demographic and socioeconomic attributes on its energy consumption differs across quantiles. We propose some measures and empirical methods that allow a deeper understanding of the factors affecting energy use which should be informative for policy making aimed at reducing residential energy demand. JEL classification: C2, D1, Q41, Q48
Age is an important proxy for many life course trajectories, and has complex and understudied relationships with energy consumption. We evaluated the presence and the shape of an age-energy consumption profile in the U.S. residential sector, using household-level data from four waves of the Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) in 1987, 1990, 2005, and 2009. We constructed pseudo-cohorts from Bayesian generalized linear model estimates to create micro-profiles for energy consumption across the life course. Overall, we found that residential energy consumption increases over the life course. Much of the increase in energy consumption is due to housing size. Variations in the age-energy consumption micro-profiles can be described by concave and convex functions that transform from one to another across the life course. We conclude with a demographic perspective on the future of residential energy demand in the U.S. The confluence of demographic and climatic changes will likely cause an amplification of effects, challenging the supply and demand of energy for the older population.
The objective of this paper is to identify the socio-demographic, dwelling, and environmental factors that have the strongest influence on the daily energy-saving behaviours, the adoption of energy efficient appliances and the energy efficient retrofit investments made by British households. This study uses British household data from the “Survey of Public Attitudes and Behaviours towards the Environment” collected in 2009, and employs nonlinear principal components analysis (NLPCA), ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, and probit models. The results show different household profiles with specific features driving daily energy-saving behaviours and energy efficiency investments. Environmental variables are a good predictor of both energy-saving behaviours and investment in energy efficient appliances but not of energy efficient retrofit measures. Results of income and dwelling type variables with regard to energy-saving behaviours and energy efficient retrofit investments significantly diverge; in addition, interesting patterns emerge with respect to the respondents’ age, sex, and marital status. By evaluating and understanding the household and dwelling characteristics that affect energy-saving behaviours and energy efficiency investments, it is possible to obtain a clearer idea of where and how energy and emissions savings can be made, and to propose effective and targeted policies that promote energy-responsible lifestyles.
Energy efficiency is an effective strategy to reduce household energy consumption. Investments in energy efficiency measures (EEMs) result in reduced energy bills and increased comfort for households, while also contributing to national environmental targets. This article examines an energy efficiency scheme in Ireland and investigates the factors that determine investments in energy efficiency measures and the motivations of Irish households to participate in energy saving programs and adopt EEMs. The paper investigates three key research questions: the determination of investments in EEMs, with special focus on motivations and their relative importance; the consistency of motivations over the course of the decision-making process; and the consistency of determinants and motivations for investments in EEMs across different measures. The paper studies the implementation of seven energy efficiency measures in residential houses throughout Ireland. Results indicate that the decision to ultimately apply and invest in EEMs is mainly driven by monetary or economic factors such as gains in energy savings and the private cost of the measures. Comfort gains are found to be a secondary factor and environmental benefits of EEMs are found to be of little concern when making investment decisions. Finally, we suggest focusing on providing information about the benefits of the EEMs on energy savings and improvements in comfort in order to increase the adoption of EEMs by households in Ireland.
This paper tests to what extent different types of variables (building factors, socio-demographics, attitudes and self-reported behaviours) explain annualized energy consumption in residential buildings, and goes on to show which individual variables have the highest explanatory power. In contrast to many other studies, the problem of multicollinearity between predictors is recognised, and addressed using Lasso regression to perform variable selection.
Energy-efficient technologies offer considerable promise for reducing the financial costs and environmental damages associated with energy use, but these technologies appear not to be adopted to the degree that appears justified, even on a purely private basis. We present two complementary frameworks for understanding this so-called “energy paradox” or “energy efficiency gap.” First, we build upon previous literature by dividing potential explanations for the energy efficiency gap into three categories: market failures, behavioral anomalies, and model and measurement errors. Second, we examine the elements of cost-minimizing energy efficiency decisions, the typical benchmark used in assessing the gap's magnitude.
Energy efficiency in the housing sector can substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this paper (i) we analyze the energy efficiency renovation expenditure staking into account investment profitability and (ii) we identify the characteristics of the households who do not renovate even if the investment is profitable (that is to say if energy costs are higher than energy savings). We obtain as a main results that the household’s occupancy status and the capital access difficulty can explain the absence of investment even if it is profitable. We also find that investment profitability is not the key determinant of the decision to invest. This result is in line with the literature that suggests households do not use the present value criterion to invest in energy efficiency measures because of market barriers. Therefore, it is necessary to encourage investment with public policies.
This paper analyses the impact that dwelling characteristics and characteristics and behaviours of household members have on per capita energy expenditures. It also analyses whether changes in household socio-economic circumstances translate in changes in energy expenditures. Socio-economic characteristics have a moderate impact, while dwelling characteristics and especially household size have much larger impacts. The largest changes in energy expenditures are due to changes in household size.The recent socio-demographic trends will make it harder to design policies to effectively reduce the carbon footprint of a country, while policies influencing cohabitation and family size may have positive indirect effects.
This article is situated within the context of the recommendations made by the Grenelle environment round table (Grenelle de l’Environnement) which highlighted the need to improve the thermal performance of housing in France by 2020. It aims to define the modalities through which the relations between citizens and energy are constructed and organised in housing in the Île-de-France region that is spatially contextualised (city centre, low rise suburban housing, social housing complexes, peri-urban sector, etc.) and architecturally differentiated (single family homes, multiple rented or co-owned central housing units, large linear and tower block complexes, etc.).
The article is based on the hypothesis that the energy consumption of households in their homes reflects complex socio-spatial behaviour patterns.These behaviour patterns are examined from the point of view of the relationship to energy that inhabitants have at the scale of their homes, as well as by analysing their consumption practices within the urban context of the Ile-de-France region.
The methodological approach is twofold :
A socio-economic approach using quantitative methods based on the secondary analysis of national surveys (particularly the national housing survey), and an ad hoc survey that we carried out on 2000 Île-de-France households.
A socio-technical approach comparing the subjective appreciation of energy consumption of households with their actual practices, based on semi-structured interviews with fifty-nine households.
These approaches allow the construction of a typology of energy consumers which integrates residential practices and the technical performances of buildings on different scales.
In addition to scrutinizing the decision process behind energy efficiency investment, this study investigates its association with energy-saving behavior. Its conceptual underpinnings are based on the intersection of behavioral change and "energy efficiency paradox" theories. Based upon a rich, disaggregated dataset representative of the French housing sector, it develops an energy-saving score based on the item response theory model, which considers household attributes and ability levels. Then this score is used as an independent factor of a multivariate probit model to examine the drivers of household investment decisions for various energy performance solutions. The results highlight that: (i) contextual and attitudinal attributes are two major drivers of energy efficiency investments, and (ii) depending on the energy solution considered, there is a significant inverse relationship between energy-savings behavior and energy efficiency investments. This reveals that environmental awareness is not necessarily a driving factor behind energy efficiency investments and emphasizes the so-called "rebound effect" issue. The results support the view that promoting energy-saving behaviors and energy efficiency investments necessitate differentiated public policies that consider both individual preferences and housing stock heterogeneity. The analysis offers valuable policy guidance and research agenda outlining future energy efficiency research priorities.
This article examines a crucial question that has been raised in recent years in both policy and economic literature: the role of uncertainty as a barrier to energy retrofit decisions. We develop a discrete choice experiment to elicit preferences for energy renovation measures. This methodologically innovative experiment design includes two insurance schemes covering potential sources of uncertainty as attributes of the energy retrofit alternatives. We use a mixed logit model to investigate the nature of systematic heterogeneity in household preferences for attributes of energy retrofit solutions. The article shows that uncertainties related to future energy pricing and retrofit quality are negatively perceived during energy-renova-tion decision making. This impact varies according to household characteristics such as risk aversion and perceptions of the economic context. The results suggest that public policies should support and accompany the development of insurance schemes to increase energy renovation rates.
This study develops an empirical model to investigate the extent of fuel poverty in two emerging economies, Egypt and Jordan. We also identify explanatory factors for fuel poverty. We use an innovative empirical framework based on a multivariate statistical approach with logistic regression and classification and regression tree models. Using this framework, we evaluate the rates of fuel poverty, the factors contributing to fuel poverty and salient fuel poverty profiles. This analysis is helpful in identifying and targeting the families that most need energy and financial assistance. The results show that the proportion of fuel-poor households is greater in Jordan (15.8%) than in Egypt (8.4%). They also highlight four different energy poverty profiles for each country. The findings show that good economic conditions, reduced inequality and access to education are critical for attenuating fuel poverty in Egypt and Jordan. The analytical framework innovatively captures fuel poverty as a new dimension in the vector of inequality trends in the Middle East and North Africa. The findings offer insights into fuel poverty in developing countries and have important policy implications. Specifically, they provide strategic information for implementing energy policies and programs to reduce inequality in the future.
This study develops a straightforward statistical approach to explore the COVID-19 pandemic impact on inequalities. The setting of the study is the economic and social inequalities in France, as an illustration of a particular European country that has been severely affected by the current health crisis. Using rich regional data, we provide a clear picture of the COVID-19 impact on inequalities in France at the regional level. The findings show that the pandemic shocks were very asymmetrical with little correlation with the socio-demographic characteristics of a territory. The consequences of the economic losses suffered and the health distress plunged the territories into an unprecedented and multifaceted crisis. The results of this study provide some relevant policy recommendations that can be expanded beyond the French context. It provides some guidance on how to identify the impact of the health crisis on inequalities and the aggravating factors.
This research investigates the cost-effectiveness of energy performance measures in French residential buildings. We develop an empirical approach based on a multivariate statistical approach and Cost-Benefit analysis. The strength of this research relies on the designing of a large cross-sectional database collected in 2013 including rich technical information of about 1,400 dwellings representative of the French residential sector as well as individual recommendations relative to the energy renovations to be implemented, their investment costs, and energy savings potential. We provide valuable information on the cost-effectiveness of energy renovation measures for the entire housing stock. Results show that low-temperature and condensing boilers, as well as floor insulation, are the most cost-effective energy efficiency measures, which could be inconsistent with actual subsidy policies. We demonstrate that the cost-effectiveness of energy renovation measures is widely dependent on dwelling initial characteristics and the value of the inputs used in the economic indicators such as energy-savings amount, energy price, and the discount rate. Moreover, we provide a classification of French dwellings, which may help policymakers, better identify their target. Finally, we show that the renovation of the entire French residential dwelling stock can lead to a great amount of energy–and CO2–reductions but requires significant financial capacity.
We investigate whether risk, time, environmental, and social preferences affect single-family homeowners’ investments in the energy efficiency of their house using established experimental measures and questionnaires. We find that homeowners who report to be more risk taking are more likely to have renovated their house. Pro-environmental and future-oriented renovators, i.e. renovators with lower discount factors, live in homes with higher energy efficiency. Pro-social preferences as measured in a dictator game relates positively to the energy quality of renovated houses. Controlling for the energy efficiency of houses, we further find that energy consumption as measured by heating and electricity costs is lower for future-oriented and pro-environmental individuals.
This paper intends to examine the key drivers of household environmental attitudes and energy-saving behavior using both observed and stated attitudinal factors. Beginning with an assessment of energy-saving behaviors Item Response Theory (IRT), we associate hierarchical multivariate regression with an innovative variable selection approach via Elastic Net Selection (ENS). Our empirical study is based on data from the 2012 ENERGIHAB project survey. Empirical evidence in this article contributes with new insights about the main explanatory factors of household energy-saving behavior. The main results further suggest that energy-saving behavior tends to fluctuate throughout time in households. Our findings and approach generate broader methodological insights into energy efficiency analysis through behavioral aspects.
Investments in energy efficiency entail uncertainty, and when faced with uncertainty consumers have been shown to behave according to prospect theory: preferences are reference-dependent and exhibit loss aversion, and probabilities are subjectively weighted. Using data from a choice experiment eliciting prospect theory parameters, I provide evidence that loss-averse people are less likely to invest in energy efficiency. Then, I consider policy design under prospect theory when there are also externalities from energy use. A higher degree of loss aversion implies a higher subsidy to energy efficiency. Numerical simulations suggest that the impact of prospect theory on policy may be substantial.
The EU, through its energy policy, has established a renovation rate of 3% for public buildings. This activity has a key role in achieving European targets regarding reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, the promotion of building renovations would reduce energy dependence and unemployment in the EU. The present work is aligned with the recently updated EPBD in the energy policy through an economic evaluation of energy renovations of eleven tertiary buildings. These buildings belong to three Spanish university campuses, and most of these buildings were built under the previous Spanish building code, which was enforced between 1979 and 2006. While revisions to the envelope are typically cost prohibitive, active measures can achieve a significant reduction in energy consumption and energy costs. The investment is recouped in 1.1–6.7 years for a new lighting installation and 0.7–7.7 years for a natural gas or biomass boiler. For the optimal combinations, typical reductions in primary energy consumption range between 12% and 48%. In the current scenario of limited economic resources, the data provided in this work can be used to prioritize expenditures in energy renovations from environmental or economic approaches.
This paper empirically and jointly analyses the relations between standard time discounting, risk aversion, loss aversion, and present bias and household stated adoption of low to high stake energy efficiency technologies (EETs): light emitting diodes (LEDs), energy-efficient appliances, and retrofit measures. The analysis relies on a large representative sample drawn from eight European Union countries. Preferences over time, risk, and losses were elicited and jointly estimated from participant choices in incentivized, context-free multiple price list experiments. The findings from econometrically estimating EET adoption equations provide some support for the hypothesis that individuals who are more loss-averse, or more risk-averse, or who exhibit a lower time discount factor are less likely to have adopted EETs. Yet, some of the results (significance levels and effect sizes) appeared sensitive to the addition of covariates, which may be an indication of bad controls. Finally, omitting one or several of the parameters capturing preferences over time, risk, and losses when estimating the EET adoption equations, did not appear to cause omitted variable bias.
The author examines energy consumption by stage of family life cycle while controlling for income and number of family members in the labor force. Conservation and public policy implications are drawn.
Recent efforts to reduce residential energy consumption have renewed interest in investigating salient drivers of household energy use. This article contributes to the ongoing literature by developing a model for examining geographic effects on energy use. Using a new, rich, micro-level survey that compiles information about dwelling attributes, occupant characteristics, and behaviors, we suggest a combined bottom-up and top-down statistical approach based on a multilevel regression model (MRM) and an innovative variable selection approach via the Adaptive Elastic Net Regularization technique (AdaEnetR). This approach enables us to extract geographic effects from the total variation in residential energy consumption and simultaneously explain the remaining variation with relevant explanatory variables and their interactions. The current model addresses several interrelated issues posed by the use of econometric methods to examine residential energy demand, including the risk of aggregation/disaggregation bias. Our empirical findings demonstrate the MRM's ability to effectively quantify approximately 0.67% of the geographic effects (aggregate level) and approximately 0.31% of the household and dwelling effects (individual level). Further, the findings show that household attributes are important factors that influence residential energy consumption patterns.
This paper proposes an analysis methodology that can be applied by governments and local administrations to evaluate energy retrofit programs that involve entire building categories. Through a simulation based approach, that combines detailed energy modelling and algorithmic optimization, the analysis methodology is aimed to assess the magnitude of achievable energy savings for various retrofit levels along a cost-optimal path towards achieving net zero energy operation conditions. The proposed approach allows to identify the most cost-effective energy efficiency measures (EEMs) for building retrofits and their required investment costs. The retrofit potential benefits of the Italian office buildings stock is used as a case study to illustrate the application of the proposed analysis methodology. The results of the evaluation analysis for the Italian office building stock indicated a potential primary energy savings of 54% (i.e., 8000 GWh), when retrofitted through optimal combinations of EEMs and rooftop integrated photovoltaics. The optimal set of EEMs showed strong dependency on building typology and climate. In general, the cost-optimal combinations of EEMs and rooftop PV systems did not allow to reach net-zero energy operation conditions for any Italian office building type and climatic zone.
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Energy Efficiency Retrofit (EER) of existing buildings is a key program for improving building energy efficiency in northern regions of China. This paper presents a methodological framework to conduct an economic cost-benefit analysis for EER projects, based on the calculation of costs and benefits over life cycle. By conducting a case study of a retrofit project located in Huixin Western Street Residential Area, Beijing, China, this research empirically examines its economic sustainability. The research found that in China, retrofit of existing buildings generally lack of attractiveness to investors from an economic perspective. The retrofit of heat source and outdoor heating pipe networks is cost effective, whilst buildings envelopes retrofit is not economically beneficial. For building envelopes retrofit, if replacing windows using appropriate material, retrofit of external windows represents higher cost effectiveness than that of external walls. By applying sensitivity analysis, the research further discussed the effects of relevant factors on the economic viability of retrofit projects, and found that energy price is the most sensitive factor, followed by initial costs and energy conservation rate. The selection of retrofit materials also greatly influences the economic outcomes. This research offers directions for policy makers and managers to develop incentive mechanisms and management interventions to promote the implementation of the retrofit program.
Millions of households experience fuel poverty around the world, commonly defined in broad terms in the early 1990s to cover households whose total energy bills exceeded 10% of their net income. First, this paper outlines the measurement of fuel poverty using the Low Income High Costs indicator (LIHC) and examines the main characteristics of fuel poor households in France based on multidimensional statistical analysis using a new micro-level survey data. It then explores the salient determinants of fuel poverty risk using logistic regression. About 3.18 million households are estimated to be in fuel poverty, representing 12% of all French households. The hierarchical classification suggested four distinct profiles, which shed light on the main features of fuel poor households. Additionally, results show that the risk of being fuel poor and the depth of fuel poverty increase significantly with lower EPC rating house and confirm the existence of a social gradient in fuel poverty. Recognition of this aspect can be helpful for developing economically efficient policies to address fuel poverty. This study does not aim to be exhaustive in policy implications terms, but rather to present a new way of thinking about fuel poverty solutions by targeting different household groups.
This article studies the psychological and structural determinants, barriers and drivers of the decision to upgrade the energy standard of privately owned residential buildings. The importance of 23 potential barriers and drivers for different subgroups is analyzed, and a model is developed and tested on a sample of 2687 Norwegian house owners. The intention to include energy efficiency upgrades in a rehabilitation project is determined by feelings of moral obligation to act, attitudes, and self-efficacy. The model shows also how these variables are linked to distal psychological variables like innovativeness, perceived consumer effectiveness, social norms, problem awareness, and value orientations. The impacts of structural barriers are channeled through the psychological variables. Important barriers are a feeling that the right time has not come yet to start the rehabilitation project, and being unsure about the economic saving potential. Important drivers are better living conditions in the dwelling and higher expected comfort, reduced energy costs and an increased market value of the dwelling, and perceiving the current building standard as a waste of energy. Limited economic resources seem to make people more interested in energy efficiency upgrades. Implications for policy-making are discussed.
About a quarter of French energy demand is for residential use. This study mobilises a multidisciplinary approach and a non-linear modeling strategy to examine the total, direct and indirect effects of households and housing units in designing French energy consumption. Based on micro-level data from the new French 2012 PHEBUS survey, this research implements a structural equation model to tease out the effects of both dwelling characteristics, household attributes, climate and behaviours on the domestic energy use. Findings confirm that the direct effect of household-related attributes on domestic energy demand is notably lower than the corresponding effect from the dwelling attributes. Nevertheless, considering for the indirect effect of household factors on energy use, across housing choices, the total impact of household-related attributes on the French domestic energy consumption is just slightly lower than that of dwelling characteristics. Therefore, to highlight the spectrum of residential energy use, this research calls to incorporate both direct and indirect effects of household attributes and choices. This study suggests several key insights on how to incorporate housing policy into residential energy policy and reduce energy-related greenhouse gas emissions.
This article explores the question of domestic energy consumption. It concentrates on the example of France and using micro-data from the 2002 and 2006 National Housing Surveys conducted by INSEE (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies). The empirical analysis is divided into three stages: the first verifies the correspondences between modes of energy consumption, household profiles and housing profiles, in order to classify consumer mode types; the second looks at the stabilities and variations over time of each of these types; the last seeks to identify the causes of these changes. The findings reveal sharp divergences between the factors affecting global consumption, consumption per m2 and per person. These variations can be explained by the impact of the demographic characteristics of households, residential mobility and life cycles. Therefore, these findings demonstrate the flexibility over time of domestic energy consumption, which is still too often approached as a static variable solely associated with building characteristics. They need to be taken further through a longitudinal and multidisciplinary approach to energy consumption patterns.
This study investigates the roles of environmental concern and comfort expectations in the decision to retrofit a dwelling and the implications of these two aspects for the rebound effect. We ex-ante elicit individual preferences for deep thermal energy-saving measures in residential buildings by means of a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) among 3161 owner-occupiers and tenants in Germany. Besides room temperature, we include air quality, level of control over the system, noise reduction, and aesthetics of the dwelling as proxies for indoor comfort. Our model also accounts for monthly payments related to the implementation of the measure – and customized based on tenancy status, building type, and size of the dwelling – as well as technical energy cost savings. Econometric estimation provides significant results for most of the parameter coefficients. Findings show that thermal comfort preferences are heterogeneous: 33% of the respondents attach positive values to an increase in indoor temperature that would result from the deep retrofit, providing evidence in favor of a technical rebound effect. While environmental concern explains heterogeneity in most of the attributes, its interaction with thermal comfort is not significant. Thermal comfort turns out to be, however, the least important attribute in the analysis while air quality is the most important one.
Recent research into the determinants of household energy consumption has aimed to incorporate findings from economics, sociology and psychology in order to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the factors determining energy demand. The current paper contributes to this nascent stream of literature by studying the relationship between risk attitudes, trust propensity and energy consumption at the household level. Drawing on the British Household Panel Survey, a well-known data set in the context of energy studies, I show that trust is negatively correlated with household energy demand, while higher risk tolerance leads to increases in residential energy use. Potential explanations for these findings are investigated, suggesting that risk preferences may be related with overall appliance stock and the size of the rebound effect.
This article focuses on residential energy consumption in France. Using a bottom-up statistical approach, this analysis explores determinants of household energy consumption using data from the most recent National Housing Survey. The primary objective is to tease out the impacts of various factors on the domestic energy consumption spectrum across different population groups. The aim of this approach is to neutralize conventional factors affecting energy consumption (age of house, total area, etc.) to finely analyze the impact of other determinants including those relating to household characteristics and other control variables.
First, we define homogeneous consumption groups of households by using multivariate statistical techniques, namely the Multiple Correspondence Analysis and Ascending Hierarchical Classification. Second, we use standard OLS regression to explore the effects of various factors on domestic energy consumption among homogeneous groups of households. This multivariate analysis exercise has led us to identify four main consumption typologies. Results revealed that energy prices were the most important factors determining domestic energy consumption. In addition, this study showed that occupant characteristics significantly affect domestic energy use. Results of this research call for combine all efforts, multiple strategies and smart policies, to incorporate household and consumption behaviors in managing domestic energy consumption.
Residential buildings strongly contribute to global CO2 emissions due to the high energy demand for electricity and heating, particularly in industrialised countries. Within the EU, decentralised heat generation is of particular relevance for future climate policy, as its emissions are not covered by the EU ETS. We conducted a choice experiment concerning energy retrofits for existing houses in Germany. In the experiment, the approximately 400 sampled house owners could either choose a modern heating system or an improved thermal insulation for their home. We used standard and mixed logit specifications to analyse the choice data. We found environmental benefits to have a significant impact on choices of heating systems. However, they played no role in terms of insulation choices. Based on the estimated mixed logit model, we further obtained willingness-to-pay (WTP) measures for CO2 savings.
In this paper, we identify key drivers and barriers for the adoption of building energy retrofits in Germany, which is promoted by public policy as an important measure to address the future challenges of climate change and energy security. We analyze data from a 2009 survey of more than 400 owner-occupiers of single-family detached, semidetached, and row houses in Germany, that was conducted as a computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI). In the survey, respondents were asked directly for reasons for and against retrofitting their homes, but also faced a choice experiment involving different energy retrofit measures. Overall, we find that house owners who are able to afford it financially, for whom it is profitable, and for whom there is a favorable opportunity are more likely to undertake energy retrofit activities. The latter point seems to be of particular importance in explaining the persistent low retrofit rate in Germany. Our results suggest that professional energy advice could stimulate the demand for building energy retrofits.
Whether or not different environmentally beneficial choices have common motivational causes are discussed in the framework of partial correlation analysis with structural equation modeling. Correlations between recycling, buying organic food products, and using public transport or bicycle are analyzed based on telephone interviews with a random sample of about 1,100 Danish residents and two replication samples of about 300 from the same population. The study finds that theoretically meaningful correlations are suppressed by background characteristics. Common motivational causes, that is, environmental values and environmental concern, can account for the significant partial correlations between behaviors after controlling for background characteristics.
We document very low take-up of an energy efficiency program that is widely believed to be privately beneficial. Program participants receive a substantial home “weatherization” retrofit; all installation and equipment costs are covered by the program. Less than 1 percent of presumptively eligible households take up the program in the control group. This rate increased only modestly after we took extraordinary efforts to inform households--via multiple channels--about the sizable benefits and zero monetary costs. These findings are consistent with high non-monetary costs associated with program participation and/or energy efficiency investments.
The author examines energy consumption by stage of family life cycle while controlling for income and number of family members in the labor force. Conservation and public policy implications are drawn.
In a widely cited series of papers, Hassett and Metcalf argue that the slow diffusion of energy saving technology may be due to a high option value to waiting. While the authors clarify that this is relevant for yes/no decisions (such as whether to add insulation to a home), this argument has been widely cited even in investment decisions that involve a choice over multiple appliances or vehicles. In this note we consider how uncertainty and irreversibility would impact a consumer's decision about when to buy which new product. We show that, a priori, applying an option value framework is as likely to lead to slow diffusion of inefficient products as to slow diffusion of efficient products. This casts some doubt on the idea that an option value framework is the primary driver of the slow diffusion of energy efficient technologies.
Perceived risk in future energy cost savings of energy efficient technologies has been well identified as a major barrier to the adoption of such technologies. However, direct empirical evidence of the impact of consumer risk aversion on the adoption of energy efficient technologies has been limited. In this paper, we elicit consumer risk preferences using a multiple price list experiment tailored to household energy decisions. We then use the elicited risk preferences to explain consumers' self-reported historical purchase of energy efficient appliances and installation of energy efficiency retrofitting technologies. Using data from 432 homeowners from Arizona and California, USA, results show that more risk averse consumers are less likely to adopt energy efficient technologies (except for the case of energy efficient air-conditioners). In addition, the findings provide evidence that households' perceived mobility as measured by the probability of moving within five years, can amplify the negative impact of risk aversion on the adoption of energy efficiency retrofitting technologies. Overall, the results provide implications for policy makers and companies involved in promoting energy efficient technologies.
In an attempt to reduce the contribution of residential greenhouse gas emissions the EU has implemented a variety of policy measures. The focus has been to promote domestic energy efficiency and ultimately a reduction in residential energy demand. In this study we estimate residential energy demand using Underlying Energy Demand Trend (UEDT) and Asymmetric Price Responses for 14 European OECD countries between 1978 and 2008. Our results support the conclusion that policies to reduce residential energy consumption and the consequent emissions need to account for behavioural, lifestyle and cultural factors in order to be effective.
Energy use in residential buildings is one of the major sources of greenhouse gases emissions production from cities. Using microdata from the 2009 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), this study applies structural equation modeling to analyze the direct, indirect, and total impacts of household and building characteristics on residential energy consumption. Results demonstrate that the direct impact of household characteristics on residential energy consumption is significantly smaller than the corresponding impact from the buildings. However, accounting for the indirect impact of household characteristics on energy consumption, through choice of the housing unit characteristics, the total impact of households on energy consumption is just slightly smaller than that of buildings. Outcomes of this paper call for smart policies to incorporate housing choice processes in managing residential energy consumption.
