Energy transition in the Indian building sector : assessing net zero energy buildings' niche development

Abstract

The current energy infrastructure is poor and incapable of coping with this exponential increase in demand for buildings and energy requirements. For these reasons, it is imperative for the Indian building sector that projected energy growth is managed in a feasible and a more sustainable manner.This doctoral study starts from exploring key theoretical frameworks which deem suitable to assess sustainability transitions, sustainable innovations and governance conditions needed for radical transformations and structural change towards large uptake of NZEBs in India’s building sector. These theoretical frameworks include Strategic niche management, Sectoral innovation systems and Governance assessment tool. The doctoral study answers the main research question “What are the supportive and restrictive conditions for Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) niche development in the building sector in India? Three empirical case studies were selected to explore the applicability of the integrated framework to assess the niche development of NZEBs in India from innovation, transitions and governance perspective. Data collection involved 40 semi structured in-depth interviews with key stakeholders in India and also collection of written documents, site visits, and participation in workshops and meetings.The main conclusions were that the NZEB innovation niche was yet to develop into a mature niche and is growing only slowly.This could be assessed from the results of the shaping of expectations component of the SSIAf framework which revealed that there were only marginal expectations of the building sector stakeholders regarding NZEB niche. The social network formation component revealed that new social networks were only strong within individual NZEB projects and there had been a failure to create a cohesive network with other NZEBs and with actors outside the NZEB projects resulting in a limited level of innovations.