The relation of energy efficiency upgrades and cost of living, investigated in two cases of multi-residential buildings in the Netherlands

Abstract

Purpose Decarbonising the housing stock is one of the largest challenges in the built environment today, which is getting the attention not only from policymakers but also from social housing corporations, financial organisations and users. In line with the international Paris-Climate-Change-Conference 2015, Dutch cities and housing associations have embraced this challenge with the ambitions to become carbon neutral in 2050. To reach such goals, both the rate and depth of renovation need to increase. Several technical solutions to eliminate the energy demand in dwelling have been developed and tested. Nevertheless, the intake rate of deep retrofitting is low. Despite recent developments, there are still significant barriers related to financing, lack of information and user acceptance. To address those barriers, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between energy efficiency upgrades and the cost of living. Design/methodology/approach Focusing on walk-up apartments in the Netherlands, a framework of refurbishment measures that affect the energy efficiency was identified, and their performance was calculated. Furthermore, the rental price adjustment was estimated, taking into account the refurbishment investment and the exploitation cost of the renovated dwellings. Findings The comparison of the energy use and rental price for the different options demonstrated how the different renovation measures affect the energy cost, the energy use, rent and cost of living. The tenants are more likely to accept the solutions that take into account the total cost of living and sustainability benefits. The study gives a holistic standpoint to the issue of energy upgrades, by quantifying the effect of the potential measures for the whole exploitation period. It has shown the potential of the different interventions to improve the performance and living conditions, without necessarily increasing the total cost of living. Practical implications Such results aim at supporting the decision making between the stakeholders, primarily housing associations and tenants. Originality/value The importance of the study is that it gives a holistic standpoint to the issue of energy upgrades, by quantifying the effect of the potential measures for the whole exploitation period. The cost, as a key, if not the more most decisive, issue, is put into perspective in relation to the benefit, in order to give a direction to the renovation design and arguments for the stakeholders’ dialogue. The approach of the study goes beyond cost-optimality of measures and investigated the relation between energy upgrades and cost, as a way to evaluate design variation and address the lack of information barrier in renovations. Moreover, it also proves that deep renovation is feasible without increasing in the total cost of living, which is a principal argument to promote renovations.

Occupants’ Inquiries for Energy Efficiency Retrofitting in the Netherlands

“…The second team deals with building services such as ventilation, space heating, energy production, and water systems. The third team focuses on user interaction, considering factors like monitoring energy usage, user acceptance, and interfaces [6]. This study has developed ERI indicators to assess the energy efficiency of buildings during the retrofitting process.…”

“…Additionally, occupant satisfaction plays a significant role in successfully implementing retrofitting efforts [14]. Hence, retrofitting the building stock is a multifaceted undertaking that requires careful consideration of various aspects, influencing the approach taken for each building [6].…”

Analysis of Occupant Behaviours in Energy Efficiency Retrofitting Projects

“…Indoor temperature and hours of heating system operation Enhancing heating installations [18,32,33] Comprehensible ventilation system interfaces and functioning to users Ventilation system adapting the building design to users' needs [34,35] User interaction systems Residents' satisfaction (control, usability, suitability for varying preferences, financial security, comfort, and security)…”

“…Monitoring system [35] Feedback loops to a design process that could include interface design and adaptation steps [36] Efficient appliance [37] A more image-based manual [36] Responsible innovation…”

“…However, other factors which are effective on homeowners' cooperation are ignored, for example, each homeowner's reputation amongst the neighbours [104], and personal norms referring to the feelings of ethical obligations [105]. The contextual and technological gaps related to the occupants' behaviours in EER are shown in Figure 3 Some strategies in order to increase occupants' participation in EER projects and to reduce their uncooperative behaviours in creating energy performance gaps, as suggested by different scholars are as follows: informing residents through more image-based manuals Boess [36], responsible innovation [36,110], mutual engagement [36,111], integration (communication with residents before and after renovation) [93,[112][113][114], building automation and energyintelligent buildings [115][116][117][118], real-time occupancy information [37,115,[119][120][121][122][123], occupants' participation in the design process [35,93,112,113,[124][125][126][127][128][129][130]. In terms of occupants' participation in the design process, Akotia and Opoku [131] suggest the client's representative to achieve the client's requirements.…”