Retrofitting the domestic built environment: investigating household perspectives towards energy efficiency technologies and behaviour
Retrofitting the UK domestic built environment presents an excellent opportunity to improve its energy performance. However, retrofitting homes is a complex challenge conflated by multiple factors. Due to this complexity, a shortfall exists between the full potential and realised adoption of energy efficiency measures in the UK, a phenomenon termed the ‘Energy Efficiency Gap’. While a number of technical or economic factors may help explain this gap, difficult to quantify factors, such as social motivations, barriers, and viewpoints towards energy are also significant and often under-emphasised in public policy. As such, in order to improve the understanding of the Energy Efficiency Gap and the uptake of future retrofit initiatives, this research adopted a socio-technical approach that considered social and technical retrofit factors together. Specifically, this research collected data from interviews, questionnaires, and a Q Study in the cities of Manchester and Cardiff, alongside a questionnaire that measured energy efficiency technology and behaviour preferences. An original contribution to knowledge was using the data to empirically identify motivations and barriers to adopting energy efficient technologies, as well as identifying household viewpoints towards energy use and linking them to retrofit technology and energy efficiency behaviour preferences. As a result of this research, specific policy recommendations are presented to help promote energy efficiency retrofits in the UK. This research was carried out as part of the Engineering & Physical Science Research Council and Sustainable Urban Environment research programme, “Re-Engineering the City 2020-2050 Urban Foresight and Transition Management (RETROFIT 2050)”.
Retrofit, Retrofitting, Energy efficiency, Behaviour, Energy, Domestic built environment, Q methodology, Thematic analysis, Retrofit 2050, Engineering, Sustainable development
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