The energy performance of office buildings throughout their building process

Many innovative techniques and policy measures have been introduced to reduce energy consumption. Despite the high ambitions and societal pressures, the adoption rate of energy measures in office buildings is still low. Using adoption theories this paper provides a framework to analyse the adoption process of energy saving techniques in building...

Formal and informal contracting with the competitive dialogue procedure

Recent developments in the construction industry led to the need for both more and changing formal contractual arrangements and for improved informal cooperation. In this context, the Competitive Dialogue (CD) was introduced by the European Commission in 2004. This procurement method consists of several discussion rounds between the principal...

Cost information in energy bills for households effecting the adoption of energy techniques

Financial appraisal is an important aspect in adopting techniques that reduce the (fossil) energy use of buildings. When financial appraisal of an energy technique takes place, fixed prices for the form and amount of energy are often used and are multiplied by the estimated amount of energy savings. However, after a certain time period an energy...

The CO2PE!-initiative (cooperative effort on process emissions in manufacturing): International framwork for sustainable production

Manufacturing processes are responsible for a substantial part of the environmental impact of products but are still poorly documented in terms of their environmental footprint. The lack of thorough analysis of manufacturing processes has as consequence that optimization opportunities are often not recognized and that improved machine tool...

Play it forward: A Game-based tool for Sustainable Product and Business Model Innovation in the Fuzzy Front End

Dealing with sustainability in the fuzzy front end of innovation is complex and often hard. There are a number of tools available to guide designers, engineers and managers in the design process after the specifications of the product or service are already set, but methods supporting goal finding for sustainable innovations are rare (Hassi et...