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Energy-use culture

The culture of residential energy use can pose a significant barrier to achieving modelled energy savings and cost-effectiveness of residential energy efficiency investment. Residents of the lower floors of high-rise buildings serviced by district heating networks in EU10 countries for example, where measures have been installed to allow heating control of individual radiators, may continue to mitigate overheating by opening windows rather than using new TRVs effectively. Adequate marketing and energy advice tailored to suit different user-groups and lifestyles is a critical component of any energy efficiency programme and refurbishment, in particular where entirely new systems are introduced into dwellings. The installation of heating controls can also provide an opportunity to install heat meters or heat cost allocators which are likely to have a continuous effect on people’s energy use – in addition to dwelling-level metering and billing.

Energy efficiency measures do not take care of themselves; their energy-saving potential is almost entirely dependent on the human component acting to realise that potential. High-rise buildings offer a significant opportunity to provide effective energy efficiency advice, especially where there is a condominium arrangement; designated individuals can adopt responsibility for acting as a source of advice on the proper use of installed systems for the other residents. Leaflets and posters can be displayed in the shared areas of the building. With are a large number of households under one roof, with most likely to have known each other for a few years at least, there are obvious economies of scale in energy advice provision. Furthermore, energy advice research has shown friends and neighbours to be amongst the most effective sources of information.

Where people are paying for the amount of energy they use – even provided the installed energy saving measures are used effectively –– there is usually a comfort-taking effect. This is an increase in energy consumption which partially compensates for the reduced energy expenditure. It can take a variety of forms, including the increased use as well as the acquisition of additional household appliances. Appliance use across Europe generally is on the rise, and energy efficiency refurbishment has little to no effect on this aspect of energy-use culture. Nevertheless, the intervention itself and the associated required provision of energy advice described above present an opportunity to go beyond information about the installed measures by additionally offering tips on how to save energy when using household appliances.

Stakeholder communication and environment

Successful energy efficiency refurbishment depends on stakeholders’ support and cooperation. The case studies highlight some specific examples where stakeholder attitudes and behaviour can make refurbishment projects easier or more difficult. Mentioned in the legal context, consultations with stakeholders – residents in particular – provide the best, and above all a pre-emptive opportunity to identify objections to the refurbishment and potential barriers to achieving the projected energy savings. A major threat to a successful project, mistrust between stakeholders – for instance between those initiating or carrying out the project and those who stand to gain from it – is usually the result of information withheld or information not communicated. A lack of trust or confidence can also prove a significant barrier to building the working partnerships necessary to carry out refurbishments, such as is possible in public-private partnerships or relationships between regulators and the regulated. Communication problems are not necessarily at the root, nor the only cause of mistrust and other difficulties; ‘not my problem’ attitudes on the part of residents accustomed to the authorities or the landlord taking care of things and conflicting objectives between different stakeholder groups pose equally significant threats to the successful completion of projects and achievement of objectives. Sometimes it is not possible to resolve a conflict between stakeholders, no matter how carefully relationships are managed; it then becomes important at the very least to ‘agree to disagree’, so as not to exacerbate the situation.

Sometimes communication issues can be resolved through intermediary stakeholders that enjoy greater trust with residents. The best examples relate to independent sources of information, such as a local clinic rather than a local authority advising residents to install insulation to keep warm in winter because the local authority is perceived as corrupt, or a university rather than an equipment installer arguing in favour of a certain type of heating control because the installer’s reputation may have been damaged by an unskilled or poorly skilled workforce. Connected to institutional capacity, independent bodies and independent quality control have the capability to allay fears and remove barriers to investment in energy efficiency, but the examples cited are arbitrary. Residents may as well trust a local authority more than a clinic if the latter is perceived as administratively incompetent. The important thing is to build on good existing relationships and to enable independent arbitration where relationships are weak.

Barriers to successful stakeholder involvement in refurbishment may lie deeper than trust. Residents may not want to live in high-rise buildings; they may through personal experience associate high-rise estates with depression, suicide, prostitution and drugs, and would rather move out at the earliest opportunity . Depending on the standpoint of the investor – for instance whether the investor is private or public – this perception could deter or encourage refurbishment. Energy efficiency alone can only contribute a small part of what would be necessary to change such perceptions. In the context of wider sustainable refurbishment of high-rise residential buildings however, which can deal directly with problems such as those listed above through community development and regeneration, energy efficiency plays an integral part in changing negative perceptions by providing additional direct and indirect benefits to residents and other stakeholders.