Survey of Homeowners’ Motivations for the Adoption of Energy Efficiency Measures: Evaluating a Holistic Energy Assessment Program
Publication: Journal of Architectural Engineering
Volume 24, Issue 4
Abstract
Homeowners increasingly have the potential to drive deeper demand-side energy reductions, but they experience multifaceted barriers, from the financial to behavioral, which must be addressed holistically. Research has shown that targeting an individual barrier, such as rebates, is insufficient to overcome energy efficiency barriers for all homeowners. The National Energy Leadership Corps (NELC) was developed and implemented using consumer energy segmentations to holistically address the heterogeneous nature of homeowners’ behaviors and the varying motivators that drive energy investments. A survey of homeowners participating in the NELC program between 2012 and 2015 was designed and deployed, measuring adoption rates of recommended measures, homeowners’ perceptions of motivators, and the implementation of self-identified efficiency measures. The results of two-sample hypothesis tests revealed that homeowners’ perceived lack of skill may have potentially inhibited adoption of envelope and heating, ventilation and air conditioning measures, even though these measures were statistically indistinguishable from perceptions of cost savings and improved comfort (p-values less than 0.05). Further, a chi-square test of independence showed envelope improvements were correlated with homeowners’ budgets, time, information, and prioritization (p-value less than 0.05). In response, two recommendations are presented: (1) a policy for the standardization of publicly available energy conservation program reporting and (2) re-exploration of motivators and barriers for investment in energy efficiency.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank the Department of Energy Consortium for Building Energy Innovation, and the National Science Foundation, EFRI-SEED Grant 1038139. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. We would also like to thank BNY Melon Foundation and our partners at the Penn State Center, Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, the Penn State GridSTAR Center, and numerous Pittsburgh community partners, including Kinglsey Association, Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh, Polish Hill Civic Association, and the Pittsburgh Urban Magnet Project for their support.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Architectural Engineering
Volume 24 • Issue 4 • December 2018
Copyright
© 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 30, 2017
Accepted: Dec 8, 2017
Published online: Jul 19, 2018
Published in print: Dec 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Dec 19, 2018
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