Print Email Facebook Twitter Municipal governance and energy retrofitting of owner-occupied homes in the Netherlands Title Municipal governance and energy retrofitting of owner-occupied homes in the Netherlands Author Ebrahimigharehbaghi, S. (TU Delft Design & Construction Management) Qian, QK (TU Delft Design & Construction Management) de Vries, G. (TU Delft Organisation & Governance) Visscher, H.J. (TU Delft Design & Construction Management) Date 2022 Abstract The building sector is responsible for more than one-third of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Netherlands has set an ambitious target to reduce GHG emissions by 95% by 2050 compared to the 1990 baseline. Several factors, such as low retrofitting rates, lead to uncertainties in achieving these targets. In the residential sector, the energy retrofit rate of the owner-occupied homes is low. Homeowners encounter different types of barriers when deciding to make energy retrofits. The purpose of this study is to explore the policy implications of the main identified influencing factors and consequently the potential mismatch between current policy and the homeowners’ actual needs. We used semi-structured interviews and focus group meetings with experts from the largest cities in the Netherlands as the data collection methods. We identified the discrepancy between current policy and the actual needs of homeowners as follows: (a) less attention to the right message and the right messenger: policymakers cannot motivate the households using the word sustainability. Policymakers can convince homeowners to make energy retrofits through the improvement in quality of life, the expected cost savings, and the integration of energy retrofits into the maintenance of the home (message effect). Moreover, the trustworthiness and familiarity of the energy ambassador with the households are the main characteristics of these ambassadors (messenger effect). (b) the lack of integrated financial, informational and technical support: the main identified transaction cost barriers (non-monetary costs) are difficulties to inspire homeowners to carry out energy retrofits, lack of knowledge on how to start the energy retrofits, many steps in carrying out energy retrofits of old houses. More importantly, there is a lack of an active and accessible party in the market to reduce the financial, technical and informational barriers. Subject Behavioural factorsDecision-makingEnergy retrofitHomeownersLocal authoritiesTransaction cost barriers To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:e7461da3-763c-428e-af2f-26bd7341bc32 DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2022.112423 ISSN 0378-7788 Source Energy and Buildings, 274 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2022 S. Ebrahimigharehbaghi, QK Qian, G. de Vries, H.J. Visscher Files PDF ijerph_19_10219_v2.pdf 2.72 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:e7461da3-763c-428e-af2f-26bd7341bc32/datastream/OBJ/view