IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/eerjnl/v5y2015i2p49.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Energy Efficiency Standards of Single-Family Houses: Factors in Homeowners’ Decision-Making in Two Austrian Regions

Author

Listed:
  • Katja Bedenik
  • Ralph Hansmann
  • Monika Popp
  • Anne von Streit
  • Claudia Binder

Abstract

The energy efficiency of residential buildings is a central issue in the widely discussed energy transition. This study investigates which factors influence homeowners´ decisions regarding the energy efficiency standard of their houses. Homeowners who built or renovated their houses between 2008 and 2013 participated in a questionnaire survey in two Austrian “energy regions†within the federal states of Styria and Burgenland. In the majority (66%) of cases, homeowners chose the low-energy house standard B (≤ 50kWh/m2a) for their building or renovation projects, followed by the conventional standard C (≤ 100kWh/m2a) (21%). Only 13% realized ultra-low-energy, passive or plus-energy houses with a higher energy efficiency standard (A (≤ 25kWh/m2a), A+ (≤ 15kWh/m2a), or A++ (≤ 10kWh/m2a)). Expert recommendations on energy standards showed the highest correlation with the selected standards, and on average, new building projects realized better energy efficiency standards than did renovations. Further variables that were significantly related to the realized standards included homeowners’ attitudes and knowledge about building energy efficiency standards and the age of the respondents. Although the homeowners who were surveyed were initially satisfied with the selected energy efficiency standard, many now indicate a preference to implement significantly higher energy efficiency standards than those achieved in their project. Further, they would recommend even significantly higher energy efficiency standards to friends than the standards preferred for their own house. These findings suggest that current preferences and communication in social networks promote higher future energy efficiency standards.

Suggested Citation

  • Katja Bedenik & Ralph Hansmann & Monika Popp & Anne von Streit & Claudia Binder, 2015. "Energy Efficiency Standards of Single-Family Houses: Factors in Homeowners’ Decision-Making in Two Austrian Regions," Energy and Environment Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 5(2), pages 1-49, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:eerjnl:v:5:y:2015:i:2:p:49
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/eer/article/download/49267/29258
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/eer/article/view/49267
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lutzenhiser, Loren & Shove, Elizabeth, 1999. "Contracting knowledge: the organizational limits to interdisciplinary energy efficiency research and development in the US and the UK," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 217-227, April.
    2. Banfi, Silvia & Farsi, Mehdi & Filippini, Massimo & Jakob, Martin, 2008. "Willingness to pay for energy-saving measures in residential buildings," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 503-516, March.
    3. Tambach, Milly & Hasselaar, Evert & Itard, Laure, 2010. "Assessment of current Dutch energy transition policy instruments for the existing housing stock," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 981-996, February.
    4. Abrahamse, Wokje & Steg, Linda, 2009. "How do socio-demographic and psychological factors relate to households' direct and indirect energy use and savings?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 711-720, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Guo Li & Wenling Liu & Zhaohua Wang & Mengqi Liu, 2017. "An empirical examination of energy consumption, behavioral intention, and situational factors: evidence from Beijing," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 255(1), pages 507-524, August.
    2. Felipe Encinas & Carlos Marmolejo-Duarte & Elizabeth Wagemann & Carlos Aguirre, 2019. "Energy-Efficient Real Estate or How It Is Perceived by Potential Homebuyers in Four Latin American Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-24, June.
    3. Litvine, Dorian & Gazull, Laurent & Dabat, Marie-Hélène, 2014. "Assessing the potential demand for biofuel by combining Economics and Psychology: A focus on proximity applied to Jatropha oil in Africa," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 85-95.
    4. Yu, Yihua & Guo, Jin, 2016. "Identifying electricity-saving potential in rural China: Empirical evidence from a household survey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 1-9.
    5. Zhang, Yixiang & Wang, Zhaohua & Zhou, Guanghui, 2013. "Antecedents of employee electricity saving behavior in organizations: An empirical study based on norm activation model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1120-1127.
    6. Quoc Nghi Nguyen & Thi Hong Loc Hoang & Van Nam Mai, 2022. "Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior to Analyze Household Energy-Saving Behavior," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 12(5), pages 287-293, September.
    7. Kabeya Clement Mulamba, 2020. "Relationship between education and households? electricity-saving behaviour in South Africa: A multilevel logistic analysis," ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2020(2), pages 51-74.
    8. Gao, Lan & Wang, Shanyong & Li, Jun & Li, Haidong, 2017. "Application of the extended theory of planned behavior to understand individual’s energy saving behavior in workplaces," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 107-113.
    9. Wang, Zhaohua & Zhang, Bin & Yin, Jianhua & Zhang, Yixiang, 2011. "Determinants and policy implications for household electricity-saving behaviour: Evidence from Beijing, China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3550-3557, June.
    10. Wang, Zhaohua & Zhang, Bin & Zhang, Yixiang, 2012. "Determinants of public acceptance of tiered electricity price reform in China: Evidence from four urban cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 235-244.
    11. Morgane Innocent & Agnès François-Lecompte & Nolwenn Roudaut, 2020. "Comparison of human versus technological support to reduce domestic electricity consumption in France," Post-Print hal-02450849, HAL.
    12. Liu, Chang & Lin, Boqiang, 2020. "Is increasing-block electricity pricing effectively carried out in China? A case study in Shanghai and Shenzhen," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    13. Chun-Hsi Vivian Chen & Yu-Cheng Chen, 2021. "Assessment of Enhancing Employee Engagement in Energy-Saving Behavior at Workplace: An Empirical Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-18, February.
    14. Fischbacher, Urs & Schudy, Simeon & Teyssier, Sabrina, 2021. "Heterogeneous preferences and investments in energy saving measures," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    15. Mubashir Ahmad Aukhoon & Junaid Iqbal & Zahoor Ahmad Parray, 2024. "Impact of corporate social responsibility on employee green behavior: Role of green human resource management practices and employee green culture," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(5), pages 3768-3778, September.
    16. Le Thi Dieu Hien & Khuu Ngoc Huyen & Thi Hong Loc Hoang, 2023. "Factors Affecting Energy-Saving Intentions among Youth in Vietnam," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 13(6), pages 603-609, November.
    17. Dalia Streimikiene & Tomas Balezentis, 2020. "Willingness to Pay for Renovation of Multi-Flat Buildings and to Share the Costs of Renovation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-16, May.
    18. Ucar, Aynur & Balo, Figen, 2009. "Effect of fuel type on the optimum thickness of selected insulation materials for the four different climatic regions of Turkey," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(5), pages 730-736, May.
    19. Malgorzata Karpinska-Krakowiak & Lukasz Skowron & Lachezar Ivanov, 2020. "“I Will Start Saving Natural Resources, Only When You Show Me the Planet as a Person in Danger”: The Effects of Message Framing and Anthropomorphism on Pro-Environmental Behaviors that are Viewed as E," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-14, July.
    20. Stefano Ceolotto & Eleanor Denny, 2021. "Putting a new 'spin' on energy labels: measuring the impact of reframing energy efficiency on tumble dryer choices in a multi-country experiment," Trinity Economics Papers tep1521, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibn:eerjnl:v:5:y:2015:i:2:p:49. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.