Circular economy and real estate: the legal (im)possibilities of operational lease

Purpose: A paradigm in circular economy (CE) is that suppliers retain ownership of their products and materials, and that the users “only” pay for services. In many legal systems, however, elements incorporated in a building are considered to be fixtures, and therefore legally part of the building. This means that ensuring multi-cyclic...

Collaborative business model development for home energy renovations

In the EU, housing retrofit rates have to increase to about 2.5–3% of the housing stock per year to achieve policy goals. The development of new business models and collaboration of SMEs in a fragmented market is expected to result in an increase in home renovations. This study presents a way to better understand the usefulness of the...

Consultancy Centres and Pop-Ups as Local Authority Policy Instruments to Stimulate Adoption of Energy Efficiency by Homeowners

The housing sector is responsible for a more than a quarter of the total final energy consumption in the EU. As the majority (70%) of the EU-housing stock is owner occupied and largely consists of single family dwellings it is understandable that many countries focus their energy saving policies on homeowners. Complementary to the national...

Finding the right incentives; circular business models for the construction industry

After its launch, the circular economy gained popularity all over the world as the new sustainability paradigm. Despite its popularity there is little to no material to be found on the implementation of the circular economy in the construction industry. Through a mixed method methodology using literature reviews, case studies, thought exercises,...

Experiences of consortia for scaling up nearly zero-energy renovations of single-family homes

On average 64 % of the dwellings in Europe are owner-occupied. Although there is an enormous potential to reduce their energy use and hence CO2 emissions, the current average renovation rate is just around 1,2 %. The development of one-stop-shops is expected to increase the market uptake of home renovation. Developing emerging frontrunner...

Circular economy and real estate: alternatives for operational lease

The concept that suppliers retain ownership of building products and the materials encapsulated within these products and that their customers ‘only’ pay for services is a paradigm in Circular Economy. However in many legal systems, elements incorporated in a building such as the facade or the roof, or equipment in a plant, are seen as fixtures...

Supply-side collaboration for energy-efficient renovations

The supply side for nearly zero energy building (nZEB) renovation of owner-occupied single-family houses in Europe is suffering from a severe image problem of lack of knowledge and trust, inefficient construction processes, insufficient quality assurance and communication difficulties with home-owners. Research was done in Austria, Belgium,...

Experiences of homeowners regarding nearly zero-energy renovations and consequences for business models

Pathways should be explored so that supply-side actors can present integrated renovations to homeowners in such a way that customers are confident with “nearly zero-energy” renovation. Understanding the real wishes of homeowners regarding integrated renovation can help to develop appropriate business. In the framework of the Intelligent Energy...

Value propositions for business models for nZEB renovation

It is poorly understood what the characteristics are of households who want to engage in nZEB single-family home renovations. This paper addresses the research question: What are customer segments, and what are their customer values and motives to choose for a nZEB renovation of privately-owned single-family dwellings in the Netherlands?...