Quantifying stakeholders’ influence on energy efficiency of housing: development and application of a four-step methodology

Abstract

Identifying stakeholders’ influence on project outcomes, prioritizing their importance and managing their interests accordingly is an effective strategy for maximizing benefits for organizations. Quantifying the influence of stakeholders on energy efficiency of housing allows for the development of an engagement plan that takes into consideration stakeholders’ diverse goals, needs, levels of expertise, knowledge, authority, connectivity and closeness to decision-making processes throughout the different stages of the housing procurement. We present a theoretical approach for quantifying the influence of stakeholders on the thermal performance of housing. The quantification methodology builds on a number of stakeholder management approaches and is applied to Australian case studies for reflection and sense making. The quantification of the degree of influence is calculated by combining the rankings of stakeholders in six attributes that affect their influence on a building’s energy efficiency outcomes. Quantifying human influence on buildings’ energy efficiency can help future researchers and housing industry stakeholders in integrating the human aspect with technological, technical, economic and regulatory aspects to optimize the performance outcomes of energy efficient housing.