Homeowner Low Carbon Retrofits: Implications for Future UK Policy

Bobrova, Y., Papachristos, G., Chiu, L.F. 2021. A process approach to understand homeowner decisions about low carbon retrofit. Energy Policy 155, 112344.

Posted: 6 May 2021

See all articles by Yekatherina Bobrova

Yekatherina Bobrova

University of Oxford - Oxford University Centre for the Environment

George Papachristos

Eindhoven University of Technology

Lai Fong Chiu

University College London - UCL Energy Institute

Date Written: May 6, 2021

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.

Keywords: Home retrofit, Low-carbon, Decision process, Innovation, Socio-technical System

Suggested Citation

Bobrova, Yekatherina and Papachristos, George and Chiu, Lai Fong, Homeowner Low Carbon Retrofits: Implications for Future UK Policy (May 6, 2021). Bobrova, Y., Papachristos, G., Chiu, L.F. 2021. A process approach to understand homeowner decisions about low carbon retrofit. Energy Policy 155, 112344., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3840710

Yekatherina Bobrova

University of Oxford - Oxford University Centre for the Environment ( email )

Oxford, OX1 3QY
United Kingdom

George Papachristos (Contact Author)

Eindhoven University of Technology ( email )

De Rondom 70
Building 3 – Atlas
Eindhoven, Brabant 5600 MB
Netherlands

Lai Fong Chiu

University College London - UCL Energy Institute ( email )

London, WC1H 0NN
United Kingdom

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Abstract Views
213
PlumX Metrics