Customer segments and value propositions in the nZEB single-family housing renovation market

Abstract

Research was done in Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway as part of the Intelligent Energy Europe project, entitled “COHERENO - Collaboration for housing nearly zero-energy renovation” (www.cohereno.eu) to better understand the customer segments and the value propositions for nZEB renovation of owner-occupied single-family houses (SFH). The partners analysed the results of a demand-side questionnaire send to experience home-owners, interviewed experiences home-owners and used national available literature to do so. Next national literature and statistics was used to determine the market potential of nZEB renovation. It is observed that the customer segments of nZEB renovations are diverse and differ per country. Most important segments are households between 40 and 60 years old, with an income above average, living in a detached house. The majority of the households that had their house renovated had clear energy saving targets in mind and took decisions by themselves, knowing what they wanted. Most of the households had multiple reasons to decide to renovate. Reducing the consumption of energy and improving indoor comfort or health conditions was for the majority of the households important to decide to renovate. In most countries the market for energy renovations of single-family houses is clearly growing. Clearly, there is e lack of data about construction years of single-family dwellings and their current condition status. A greater part of research results in the field of energy-efficiency measures are focusing on individual renovation measures and do not provide clear guidance about the possible uptake of integrated nZEB renovations. In all partner countries governmental initiatives address the private SFH market to go beyond single energy efficiency measures.