How much is the indoor comfort of a residential building worth? A discrete choice experiment

Abstract

Generally, people spend most of their time indoors, and the COVID-19 pandemic has further increased the amount of time people spent at home, owing to the widespread adoption of remote work. Consequently, there has been a heightened interest in indoor comfort, including thermal, visual, and acoustic comfort and indoor air quality. This interest has prompted a need to understand the economic value of each aspect of indoor comfort. To address this, a discrete choice experiment (DCE) was performed to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) for advanced technological solutions that provide greater comfort than basic solutions in residential housing. The research showed a significant WTP for all aspects of comfort, with the greatest appreciation for thermal comfort. Additionally, the WTP for each aspect of comfort was greater than the additional costs required to implement advanced technological solutions to enable the desired comfort. The findings demonstrated that the sample population, mostly comprising people under the age of forty, was highly sensitive to comfort considerations and the related benefits derived from energy-efficient solutions. Specifically, comparing the WTP of the different aspect of comfort and the total one identified, the following relative importance was found: 51 % for thermal comfort (WTP = 377.94 EUR/m2); 22 % for visual comfort (WTP = 166.83 EUR/m2); 16 % for acoustic comfort (WTP = 119.60 EUR/m2) and 11 % for indoor air quality (WTP = 79.21 EUR/m2). These motivations can guide future decision-making and designers in the building market.