The TEnSE approach to assess the nudge of stakeholders in the choice of thermal insulation materials

Abstract

The buildings’ energy efficiency and the energy poverty can be improved through the implementation of active and/or passive retrofit solutions. The thermal insulation of building envelope is one of the most employed retrofit solutions. Several thermal insulation materials are currently available in the building market. However, the choice of a specific material can depend on an ensemble of requirements ascribed to four domains – Technical (T), Environmental (En), Safety (S) and Economic (E). The TEnSE approach is here proposed to investigate the influence of specific stakeholders or nudgers in the selection of thermal insulation materials for building retrofit. It is a three-step approach, that starts from a) the identification of a set of alternatives and decision criteria, b) the assignation of parameters and their normalization, and c) the definition of a weights’ matrix and calculation of the Stakeholders’ Score. As an example, here, the TEnSE is used to study the influence of stakeholders in the choice of the most used thermal insulation materials in three countries of the European Economic Area. The TEnSE approach can be used beyond a products’ score tool, as experts in social sciences and climate/energy policies could depict what are the decisional patterns of public, private, and people to enhance the green awareness and fill the legislative and political gap towards this topic.