Energy performance gaps: promises, people, practices

Gram‐Hanssen, Kirsten; Georg, Susse

doi:10.1080/09613218.2017.1356127

Cited by 67 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Social sciences have a significant role for informing new policy approaches [12], nevertheless, social analysis is not underlined in the Portuguese public policies about energy [33] reinforces the strategy of mobilize investments to the renovation of the national buildings stock, nonetheless, it keeps on relying on: the usual "save energy" argument used both in the Energy Performance Certificate System (EPCS) and in the informational and awareness campaigns and on financial programmes. All of these tools conceptualized as distinctive and partitioned from other home improvements with which homeowners are engaged throughout the years.…”

Section: Practical Implications For Energy Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This representation of homeowners' decisions to achieve goals and isolated from other family decisions is part of a speech centred on individual choice [8]. Therefore, recent approaches to the problem call for social science in order to conceptualise the study of decision-making regarding the renovation of the building stock as a process emerging from home life circumstances and subjected to several levels of influence [9]- [12]. This study aims to get an in-depth knowledge about energy-related renovation of single-family owneroccupied houses as part of the daily and the social sharing practices which constitute Portuguese family life.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Energy-Related Housing Renovations From an Everyday Life Perspective: Learning From Portuguese Homeowners

Abreu

Oliveira

Lopes

2019

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment

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Changing the attitudes of existing building users towards sustainability is a paramount strategy towards a low-carbon society. One of the challenges lies in encouraging owners to renovate their houses. Recent studies have pointed out the relevance of the homeowner's social context which, more often than not, outstrips public awareness campaigns and even techno-economic advice. The decision to renovate seems to emerge from deep social issues rather than exclusively from the simple analysis of investment return or environmental awareness. The present study aims to bring discussion to these social subjects for single-family buildings in Portugal and identify key factors which may influence decision making. Firstly, a set of in-depth interviews were conducted with a group of experts. Subsequently, and based on the interviews, a group of Portuguese single-family homeowners, who undertook at least one energyrelated piece of work, were surveyed. Together with the survey a structured observation method was put into practice. The results revealed that homeowner's stage of life, personal/family events, everyday practices, lifestyles and social network framework have a major influence on their prime intention to renovate their homes. The desire to maintain or change the routines and the way family uses the indoor spaces are common drivers, however, motivations linked to aesthetics, trends and social status were revealed to be extremely influencing. The decision process is negotiated inside the family involving not only desired domestic life conditions but also skills, understandings and social values shared by the dwellers. The energy-related renovations take place, in many cases, as a consequence of a previous decision to renovate, taken due to other reasons. It does not consist of one single event but is rather part of a practice of a "little-by-little renovation". Motivational policies should be drawn considering the energy-related renovations as any other type of renovation and not separately from the others.

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Section: Practical Implications For Energy Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy-Related Housing Renovations From an Everyday Life Perspective: Learning From Portuguese Homeowners

Abreu

Oliveira

Lopes

2019

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The usual social categories 'age-gender-(social)class' have effects on how such practices are performed. For example, Gram-Hanssen and Georg (2017) show the link between a person's economic resource, the type of building they live in and their energy habits. Sahakian (2018) also demonstrates the same link in the context of elite households.…”

Section: Socio-demographic Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conclusion: Comparing Household Energy Use Across Europe—Uncovering Opportunities for Sustainable Transformation

Naef

Sahakian

Goggins

2019

Energy Demand Challenges in Europe

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“…A special issue of BRI Journal (2018) dedicated to the energy performance gap and its causes suggests the importance of improving behavioural assumptions in energy modeling and simulation, and delves further into other causes of the gap relating to occupant and other stakeholder practices [42]. Studies showed that occupants are a more diverse group than assumed [43], and similarly, that data on occupancy should be grouped by age, income and other variables, rather than considering users as a homogenous group [44].…”

Section: Assessing the Prediction Gapmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking Performance Gaps: A Regenerative Sustainability Approach to Built Environment Performance Assessment

et al. 2018

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Globally, there are significant challenges to meeting built environment performance targets. The gaps found between the predicted performance of new or retrofit buildings and their actual performance impede an understanding of how to achieve these targets. This paper points to the importance of reliable and informative building performance assessments. We argue that if we are to make progress in achieving our climate goals, we need to reframe built environment performance with a shift to net positive goals, while recognising the equal importance of human and environmental outcomes. This paper presents a simple conceptual framework for built environment performance assessment and identifies three performance gaps: (i) Prediction Gap (e.g., modelled and measured energy, water consumption); (ii) Expectations Gap (e.g., occupant expectations in pre- and post-occupancy evaluations); and, (iii) Outcomes Gap (e.g., thermal comfort measurements and survey results). We question which of measured or experienced performance is the ‘true’ performance of the built environment. We further identify a “Prediction Paradox”, indicating that it may not be possible to achieve more accurate predictions of building performance at the early design stage. Instead, we propose that Performance Gaps be seen as creative resources, used to improve the resilience of design strategies through continuous monitoring.

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Energy performance gaps: promises, people, practices

Cited by 67 publications

References 21 publications

Energy-Related Housing Renovations From an Everyday Life Perspective: Learning From Portuguese Homeowners

Energy-Related Housing Renovations From an Everyday Life Perspective: Learning From Portuguese Homeowners

Conclusion: Comparing Household Energy Use Across Europe—Uncovering Opportunities for Sustainable Transformation

Rethinking Performance Gaps: A Regenerative Sustainability Approach to Built Environment Performance Assessment

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