TY - JOUR
T1 - Survey of Homeowners' Motivations for the Adoption of Energy Efficiency Measures
T2 - Evaluating a Holistic Energy Assessment Program
AU - Ketchman, Kevin J.
AU - Riley, David R.
AU - Khanna, Vikas
AU - Bilec, Melissa M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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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U2 - 10.1061/(ASCE)AE.1943-5568.0000310
DO - 10.1061/(ASCE)AE.1943-5568.0000310
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85050391468
SN - 1076-0431
VL - 24
JO - Journal of Architectural Engineering
JF - Journal of Architectural Engineering
IS - 4
M1 - 04018024
ER -