Tackling the energy efficiency gap in the Irish residential sector

Abstract

The residential sector holds significant potential for improvements in energy efficiency in Ireland. Retrofit activity, however, can be difficult to instigate despite the presence of government incentives and cost-effective investment opportunities. The failure of individuals and organisations to invest in cost-effective energy efficiency measures is often referred to as ‘the energy efficiency gap’. Here, two separate, but not mutually exclusive, potential contributing factors for this phenomenon are discussed in detail: behavioural anomalies and modelling miscalculations. The relevance of these factors in the context of the Irish residential sector is introduced, and this is followed by a review of intervention literature seeking to increase energy efficiency programme adoption rates by addressing behavioural failures. An examination of domestic and international evidence shows a consistent overestimation by ex-ante models of energy-saving benefits. The paper concludes that addressing behavioural and informational factors can have a positive influence on energy efficiency adoption, but this needs to be complemented with additional policy measures to sufficiently rectify current low rates of uptake in the Irish residential sector. Simultaneously, further action will be needed to better calibrate engineering models using data gathered from ex-post field experiments.