Impact of socio-economic factors on local energetic retrofitting needs - A data analytics approach

Despite great efforts to increase energetic retrofitting rates in the residential building stock, greenhouse gas emissions are still too high to counteract climate change. One barrier is that policy measures are mostly national and do not address local differences. Even though there is plenty of research on instruments to overcome general barriers of energetic retrofitting, literature does not consider differences in local peculiarities. Thus, this paper aims to provide guidance for policy-makers by deriving evidence from over 19 million Energy Performance Certificates and socio-economic data from England, Scotland, and Wales. We find that building archetypes with their respective energetic retrofitting needs differ locally and that socio-economic factors show a strong correlation to the buildings’ energy efficiency, with the correlation varying depending on different degrees of this condition. For example, factors associated to employment mainly affect buildings with lower energy efficiency whereas the impact on more efficient buildings is limited. The findings of this paper allow for tailoring local policy instruments to fit the local peculiarities. We obtain a list of the most important socio-economic factors influencing the regional energy efficiency. Further, for two exemplary factors, we illustrate how local policy instruments should consider local retrofitting needs and socio-economic factors.