Assessing energy techniques and measures in residential buildings : a multidisciplinary perspective

Abstract

Many Energy Techniques and Measures (ETMs) are available to reduce the fossil energy use of residential buildings. However, the rate at which these ETMs are implemented is relatively low. Bram Entrop (1980) addresses, in this design-oriented research, the influence that ETMs have on the energy performance of dwellings, what financial impact they have, how decisions regarding their implementation are taken in residential building projects, and what is required for a new ETM to be implemented in such projects. It was found that although an ETM has an effect on the actual energy use of a dwelling and its residents, this is not necessarily shown through an improved theoretical energy performance, or vice versa. It was also found that although the energy use of a dwelling and its residents is reduced by implementing an ETM, the residents do not necessarily benefit financially from its implementation. This thesis offers developers and manufacturers of ETMs an assessment framework that makes it possible to assess the implementation potential of an ETM by means of its effects on actual energy use and on the theoretical EPI, its financial impact on investment costs and annual cash flows, and its compliance with the interests of the stakeholders involved. Furthermore, the insight is offered that it is almost impossible for a novel ETM to be implemented in residential building projects due to at least five barriers. These barriers are the complexity of how the energy use of dwellings and their residents is constituted and influenced, the required government-stipulated minimum energy performance, that incentives are split among stakeholders, the composition of energy costs, and that the underlying mechanisms of the preceding four barriers are frequently changed. To improve the implementation of ETMs, efforts by all stakeholders are needed. More data are needed on what effects ETMs will have when applied in a specific dwelling with all its characteristics. In order to achieve this in the construction industry, it is recommended that the government initiates and stimulates pilot projects.