Organizational Characteristics in Residential Rental Buildings: Exploring the Role of Centralization in Energy Outcomes

Hewitt, Elizabeth

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-67122-2_10

Cited by 2 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…This led to careful crafting of survey questions around these themes. (2) The question wording and development was informed by well-cited social science and survey research, both methodological and empirical, including [35,36,38], and [30,39]. For example, the section of the survey that assessed residents' level of concern for the environment focused on biophilic values [40].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Organizations can be viewed as an important scale of analysis for understanding and ultimately reducing energy use [1,2]. Leadership in traditional organizations is typically formalized through roles such as manager or supervisor.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, leadership need not always be through formal pathways; it can also be informal and ad-hoc, influencing outcomes through non-traditional organizational mechanisms and non-traditional organizations. For example, this work argues that residential multifamily buildings in urban areas can function as organizations and have similar characteristics and operational structures [2]. This lens taps into the social component of residential buildings, and acknowledges a possible network of influence among various actors within the building [8][9][10][11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This research contributes to existing work by offering new contributions to organizational research by framing the building as the organization, and by exploring energy outcomes through this lens. Some researchers [2,9,12] are bringing an organizational framework to the study of energy in buildings, but this approach is still new, and more work is needed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contradictory Conservation: The Role of Leadership in Shaping Energy Efficiency Culture in Urban Residential Cooperative Buildings

Hewitt

2021

Energies

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In addition to formalized leadership roles within organizations, leadership can also influence members through informal channels. This work argues that multifamily residential buildings can be viewed as organizations and, as such, explores the influence that informal leaders can wield in shaping culture around the motivation for conserving energy. This work draws on qualitative fieldwork conducted in a Brooklyn cooperative building. Findings indicate that the study building benefitted from the leadership of a long-standing board member, which contributed to the implementation of a number of energy efficiency initiatives. Interestingly, this leadership also led to a culture of cost efficiency over environmental concern as the motivating force behind these initiatives. This narrative was well disseminated, with most residents reporting that the building does not have a culture of conservation, despite a strong energy efficiency leaning. Thus, this work posits that leadership can greatly shape perception and culture around energy but can also be leveraged to craft a more environmentally-motivated conservation culture. It also argues that leadership can be complementary to decentralized organizational structures, and that creative mechanisms in residential buildings can capitalize on both, allowing members at all levels of the organization more influence in shaping the building’s culture.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contradictory Conservation: The Role of Leadership in Shaping Energy Efficiency Culture in Urban Residential Cooperative Buildings

Hewitt

2021

Energies

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“…Renters are also more likely to consume more electricity, all else being equal, in part because the price signal is absent in many rental arrangements. For instance, if renters are sub-metered and responsible for their own monthly electricity, they are also typically constrained by lease provisions that do not allow them to make any significant renovations to the unit or appliances in order to save energy or money, and building owners have little incentive to upgrade units if they do not bear the monthly cost of electricity usage [66]. In fact, some programs for low-cost audits, such as the one in New York State, require the participant to be a homeowner, thereby excluding renters from the conversation altogether [1,67].…”

Section: Policy Implications and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the Drivers of National-Level Energy Audit Behavior: Demographics and Socioeconomic Characteristics

Hewitt

Wang

2020

Sustainability

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The energy audit-an assessment of a home's energy systems performed by a trained auditor in order to provide the resident with strategies for saving energy and money-is provided by many utility companies throughout the United States for free or at a reduced cost. The uptake of such programs is generally low, and little is known about audit participants. Importantly, as more evidence points to the need to look beyond physical building characteristics to increase energy efficiency, this work explores if specific characteristics of the individual are correlated with increased participation in audit programs. This research analyzes the most recent (2015) national level Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) data through a binary logit regression to determine what socioeconomic and demographic factors, if any, are statistically significant in linking to the decision to undertake an audit, while controlling for physical building characteristics. The findings indicate that age has a significant and positive relationship with the decision to undertake an audit, as does being non-white, while renting has a significant and negative relationship. Knowledge about national-level participation in audit programs can help policy makers craft more strategic incentives to increase participation and, ultimately, help connect the audit decision to the more important next step of retrofits and upgrades to save energy.

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Organizational Characteristics in Residential Rental Buildings: Exploring the Role of Centralization in Energy Outcomes

Cited by 2 publications

References 13 publications

Contradictory Conservation: The Role of Leadership in Shaping Energy Efficiency Culture in Urban Residential Cooperative Buildings

Contradictory Conservation: The Role of Leadership in Shaping Energy Efficiency Culture in Urban Residential Cooperative Buildings

Understanding the Drivers of National-Level Energy Audit Behavior: Demographics and Socioeconomic Characteristics

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