Homeowner low carbon retrofits: Implications for future UK policy

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Homeowner low carbon retrofits: Implications for future UK policy

Bobrova, Y; Papachristos, G; Chiu, LF; (2021) Homeowner low carbon retrofits: Implications for future UK policy. Energy Policy , 155 , Article 112344. 10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112344. Green open access

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Abstract

The promotion of low-carbon home retrofit among UK homeowners is widely recognised as an important strategy to reduce operational energy use in dwellings and mitigate climate change. The related predominant UK policy approach is to address various market failures and develop the market for low-carbon retrofit and innovation. The current low uptake rate of low-carbon home retrofit suggests that a complementary policy approach is necessary to increase it and support households in their change towards low-carbon living. This paper uses an innovation framework to analyse retrofit as an innovation-decision process of several stages. Low-carbon technology is conceptualised at three nested levels: product, design option and technological system. A multiple-case study approach is used to analyse eight home retrofit cases from the SuperHomes network, that achieved significant carbon emission reductions through retrofit activities. Case analysis shows that: (i) homeowners collect information for each technology level through different communication channels, which are not interchangeable; (ii) homeowners develop a certain capacity to transform their environmental concerns into substantial retrofit activities; (iii) the positive retrofit experience of homeowners is crucial to develop such capacity and to convince others to retrofit their homes. These findings have important implications for energy policy on retrofit uptake in UK to support household transition to low-carbon living.

Type:	Article
Title:	Homeowner low carbon retrofits: Implications for future UK policy
Open access status:	An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI:	10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112344
Publisher version:	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112344
Language:	English
Additional information:	This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords:	Home retrofit, Low-carbon, Decision process, Innovation, Socio-technical, System
UCL classification:	UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > STEaPP UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources
URI:	https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10128727