scholarly journals Energy Efficiency Standards of Single-Family Houses: Factors in Homeowners’ Decision-Making in Two Austrian Regions

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Bedenik ◽  
Ralph Hansmann ◽  
Monika Popp ◽  
Anne Von Streit ◽  
Claudia R. Binder

<p>The energy efficiency of residential buildings is a central issue in the widely discussed energy transition. This study investigates which factors influence homeowners´ decisions regarding the energy efficiency standard of their houses. Homeowners who built or renovated their houses between 2008 and 2013 participated in a questionnaire survey in two Austrian “energy regions” within the federal states of Styria and Burgenland. In the majority (66%) of cases, homeowners chose the low-energy house standard B (≤ 50kWh/m<sup>2</sup>a) for their building or renovation projects, followed by the conventional standard C (≤ 100kWh/m<sup>2</sup>a) (21%). Only 13% realized ultra-low-energy, passive or plus-energy houses with a higher energy efficiency standard (A (≤ 25kWh/m<sup>2</sup>a), A+ (≤ 15kWh/m<sup>2</sup>a), or A++ (≤ 10kWh/m<sup>2</sup>a)). Expert recommendations on energy standards showed the highest correlation with the selected standards, and on average, new building projects realized better energy efficiency standards than did renovations. Further variables that were significantly related to the realized standards included homeowners’ attitudes and knowledge about building energy efficiency standards and the age of the respondents. Although the homeowners who were surveyed were initially satisfied with the selected energy efficiency standard, many now indicate a preference to implement significantly higher energy efficiency standards than those achieved in their project. Further, they would recommend even significantly higher energy efficiency standards to friends than the standards preferred for their own house. These findings suggest that current preferences and communication in social networks promote higher future energy efficiency standards.</p>

2019 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 03032
Author(s):  
Zhenyu Yu ◽  
Wei Xu ◽  
Xi Chen ◽  
Deyu Sun ◽  
Jing Zhang ◽  
...  

Since Chinese government released the first residential building energy efficiency standard in 1986, the energy efficiency of residential buildings have been improved significantly. Three editions of residential building energy efficiency standards in severe cold and cold zones have been issued in the past 30 years, meanwhile, a new version is in the course of development and will be released in 2018. The paper reviews energy efficiency standards that have been issued for residential buildings in severe cold and cold zones in China, and development of new energy efficiency standards. The paper also describes the variation of key requirement in standards. Finally, future prospects for further developing energy efficiency standards for residential buildings in China are addressed. The findings show that the energy consumption reduction percentage has raised from 30% of JGJ 26-86 to 65% of the JGJ 26-2010. The insulation performance of roofs and external walls increased respectively by 103% and 83%, and the window performance increased by 130%.


2013 ◽  
Vol 805-806 ◽  
pp. 1519-1523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang Feng Wang ◽  
Guo Qiang Fan

In order to solve problems of high energy consumption and poor indoor thermal comfort in existing rural residential buildings, Tianjin city developed Tianjin energy efficiency standard for rural residential buildings, the building envelope insulation technique in the standard-including determination of heat transfer coefficient, principle of choosing insulation materials for building envelope, energy efficiency standards of walls, windows, and roofs are unscrambled particularly in this paper. It is suggested that natural materials and appropriate techniques are used to achieve the energy-saving goal for rural residential buildings with minimum energy consumption.


2011 ◽  
Vol 347-353 ◽  
pp. 4081-4088
Author(s):  
Jian Hui Yang ◽  
Ling Yan Lv ◽  
Zhen Zhuan Xiong

With the 65% building energy efficiency standards being implemented, the existing external wall insulation technology will face severe challenges. The research and application of the high performance inorganic insulation materials are solicited, because the traditional organic insulation materials representative with polystyrene have some defects, such as poor fire resistance, poor durability, short service and no synchronous with the life of structure, and environmental pollution. After the big fires of the CCTV building in 2009 and the building under construction at Shanghai pudong south road NO.1 in 2010, October 8 in the morning being occurred, the new generation inorganic insulation materials represented by vitrified microsphere, are getting increasing attention. After the thermal simulation of external walls, roof, floor and windows being calculated, it is concluded that its energy-saving rate is far more than energy efficiency 50% standard, and which is close to energy efficiency 65% standard, even if taking only vitrified microsphere as the insulation mortar for outer walls of building.


2012 ◽  
Vol 575 ◽  
pp. 122-125
Author(s):  
Juan Wang

Inner Mongolia mostly belongs to the rural residence building, no any relevant construction standard and building energy efficiency standards. Most of the farmers in build houses without considering building energy problems. This article through to a rural residential energy conservation calculation and analysis, and obtain the energy-saving index.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 7961 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shady Attia

Climate responsive design can amplify the positive environmental effects necessary for human habitation and constructively engage and reduce the energy use of existing buildings. This paper aims to assess the role of the thermal adaptation design strategy on thermal comfort perception, occupant behavior, and building energy use in twelve high-performance Belgian households. Thermal adaptation involves thermal zoning and behavioral adaptation to achieve thermal comfort and reduce energy use in homes. Based on quantitative and qualitative fieldwork and in-depth interviews conducted in Brussels, the paper provides insights on the impact of using mechanical systems in twelve newly renovated nearly- and net-zero energy households. The article calls for embracing thermal adaptation as a crucial design principle in future energy efficiency standards and codes. Results confirm the rebound effect in nearly zero energy buildings and the limitation of the current building energy efficiency standards. The paper offers a fresh perspective to the field of building energy efficiency that will appeal to researchers and architects, as well as policymakers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 02034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomasz Szul

The research aiming to check whether the output of currently installed boilers matches the use requirements together with estimation of their energy efficiency was carried out on a group of 84 single-family residential buildings located in rural areas. Heating and hot water energy needs were calculated for each building in order to determine the use requirements. This enabled verification whether the currently installed boilers match the actual use requirements in the buildings. Based on the calculations it was determined that the designed average boiler output in the group of buildings subject to analysis is 15.7 kW, whereas the mean rated output capacity of boilers installed therein is 25.4 kW. On average, the output capacity of the installed boilers exceeds the use requirements for the buildings by 60%. To calculate the energy efficiency of boilers, the mean annual boiler output capacity use coefficient was determined. For boilers selected on the basis of standard calculations, the mean coefficient is 0.47. For boilers currently in use it is 0.31, less than the above figure. The above calculations show that if boilers were correctly selected in compliance to the building needs, then the average estimated seasonal efficiency of 65% would be feasible. However, in the current state the achievable efficiency is approx. 55%.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1027 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yinan Li ◽  
Neng Zhu ◽  
Beibei Qin

Nationwide energy efficiency (EE) promotion of new residential buildings is affected by multiple factors regarding policies, markets, technologies, capacities, and economics. The perceived influences of these factors by stakeholders are crucial to the effectiveness evaluation of current policies and the selection of policy instruments. However, they are normally assumed or taken for granted. The knowledge gap between stakeholders’ perceptions and research assumptions may lead to researchers’ recognition bias. Correspondingly, this paper aims to identify the significant factors, perceived by frontline stakeholders, influencing nationwide EE promotion of new residential buildings before 2020 and 2030. Factors were collected through literature review and their influence were evaluated via Analytical Hierarchy Process based on the data collected in the questionnaires distributed to 32 institutes. The theory of Nested Policy Design Framework and Policy Environment was used to structure the hierarchy and generate policy implications. Results indicate that (1) policy factors are of the greatest influence before 2020 and market perfection factors will have great influences from 2020 to 2030, indicating the transformation of governance arrangement to “market-based” and “network-based” from the current legal-based system; and (2) factors regarding market needs are of significant influence in both terms, revealing the way the transformation should be accomplished.


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