Decided or divided? An empirical analysis of the decision-making process of Dutch homeowners for energy renovation measures

The Modelling of Roof Installation Projects Using Decision Trees and the AHP Method

“…In studies of whole-building lifecycle assessments, it has been mentioned that the most significant components added during renovation are the roof access floors, and new windows, while the new construction scenario was overwhelmingly burdened by manufacturing intensive structural (concrete and steel) and envelope components (brick and terracotta walls) [21]. The roof renovation process can be important for energy-saving changes and the social network or professionals can influence the decision to implementing the energy renovation measures [22]. As measures on both occupant behaviour and physical improvement have influences on energy saving to various extents, effective renovation strategies should be developed by combining both building technologies and behavioural changes [23].…”

Connect and affect

“…Next to the distinction made between homeowners and tenants and the local context, there are other factors that may influence the perception of the transition towards sustainable heat as well. In earlier (quantitative and qualitative) studies, various factors influencing residents' attitudes, intentions, and behaviours were found (e.g., Ástmarsson et al, 2013;Broers et al, 2019;Ebrahimigharehbaghi et al, 2019;Miedema et al, 2018;Nair et al, 2010;Risholt & Berker, 2013;Van Middelkoop et al, 2017;Visscher et al, 2016;Wilson et al, 2015), which can be divided into five categories: financial aspects, knowledge and information, process related factors, environmental concerns, and socio-demographic characteristics. Most of the earlier studies focused solely on homeowners and concentrated on renovation measures instead of including both homeowners and tenants and investigating the sustainable transition as a whole.…”

“…The few studies that have compared the perceptions and motives of homeowners and tenants regarding energy-efficient measures have predominantly focused on this factor. For homeowners, financial concerns involve the question of whether their investments would pay off through a decrease in energy use and an increase in the value of their house (Broers et al, 2019;Wilson et al, 2015). Homeowners who perceived energy-efficient measures as a good investment and/or received a government loan or subsidy were more inclined to adopt these measures, while a lack of money and an aversion to delayed gain prevented investing in energy-efficient measures (Broers et al, 2019;Wilson et al, 2015).…”

“…For homeowners, financial concerns involve the question of whether their investments would pay off through a decrease in energy use and an increase in the value of their house (Broers et al, 2019;Wilson et al, 2015). Homeowners who perceived energy-efficient measures as a good investment and/or received a government loan or subsidy were more inclined to adopt these measures, while a lack of money and an aversion to delayed gain prevented investing in energy-efficient measures (Broers et al, 2019;Wilson et al, 2015). Tenants' concerns involved the question whether the decrease in energy use would cover the higher rent (Ástmarsson et al, 2013;Visscher et al, 2016).…”

“…This includes technical knowledge-the steps that need to be taken to make the home more energy efficient-and policy knowledgethe regulations and possible financial instruments (Nair et al, 2010;Risholt & Berker, 2013). Broers et al (2019) found that homeowners who have technical knowledge, who feel that they can gain access to objective information, and/or who heard about positive experiences from their network, are more inclined to adopt energy-efficiency measures. In contrast, Ebrahimigharehbaghi et al (2019) and Wilson et al (2015) identified a perceived lack of credible information as an important barrier for homeowners to adopt sustainable measures.…”