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Reports

85 result(s) found

SCALING UP DEEP ENERGY RENOVATION: UNLEASHING THE POTENTIAL THROUGH INNOVATION and INDUSTRIALISATION

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English
Authors:
Maarten de Groote,
Marianne Lefever,
Julia Reinaud,
Patty Fong,
Yamina Saheb,
and Oliver Rapf

The European construction industry, like many others, is confronted by an economy that isundergoing a highly significant change, shaped by megatrends such as greater urbanisation,disruptive new technologies and digitalisation, globalised value chains and sustainability.At the same time, the European economy faces the profound challenge of meeting theambitious climate mitigation goal set out in the Paris Agreement of keeping average globalwarming to well below 2˚C.

Factors Influencing U.S. Homebuilders’ Adoption of Green Homebuilding Products

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English
Authors:
Andrew R. Sanderford,
Matthew J. Keefe,
C. Theodore Koebel,
Andrew P. McCoy

While many researchers have analyzed the obstacles to the diffusion of innovation in building construction, little empirical evidence has been gathered about the factors associated with U.S. homebuilders’ adoption of innovative building products. In this paper, we develop a theory driven diffusion of innovation conceptual model of homebuilders’ adoption of high performance building product innovations. We are among the first to operationalize a regression model to demonstrate an application of the model using a large dataset from the National Association of Homebuilders.

Heterogeneous Price Premiums in Sustainable Real Estate? An Investigation of the Relation between Value and Price Premiums

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English
Authors:
Spenser Robinson,
Pat McAllister

Focusing on the voluntary LEED and ENERGY STAR environmental certification schemes in the United States, we investigate whether price premiums exist across all building value categories or are localized to specific value segments. We find that the largest value building segment does not demonstrate any price premiums, while the smallest value categories do. The concentrated supply of eco-labeled offices in large, high-quality buildings likely contributes to this phenomenon.

Focused acceleration: A strategic approach to climate action in cities to 2030

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English
Authors:
Desiree Bernhard,
Michele Bertoncello,
Alex Brotschi,
Lia Cairone,
Ricardo Cepeda-Márquez,
Robert Cervero,
Flavio Coppola,
David Craven,
Andrea Fernandez,
David Frankel,
Bhavin Gandhi,
Anna Gressel-Bacharan,
Clare Healy,
Max Jamieson,
Laura Jay,
Sean Kane,
Kate Laing,
Nicholas Laverty,
Julia Lipton,
Timo Möller,
Eric Morden,
Jesse Noffsinger,
Dickon Pinner,
Angelos Platanias,
Matt Rogers,
Josh Rosenfield,
Caterina Sarfatti,
Lucila Spotorno,
Zachary Tofias,
Andreas Tschiesner,
Helga Vanthournout,
Amy Wagner,
Caroline Watson,
Jonathan Woetzel,
Katherine Wolosz,
and Hong Xia

There is now widespread recognition in the international community that the commitments made by national governments under the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 cannot be achieved without concerted action by cities. Fortunately, many mayors have shown strong commitment to tackling climate change and a willingness to collaborate to achieve this goal.

German and Norwegian policy approach to residential buildings’ energy efficiency—a comparative assessment

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English
Authors:
Gloria Amoruso,
Natasha Donevska,
Gunstein Skomedal

The paper answers three research questions: (1) Which policies prevail in Germany and Norway to foster the deployment of energy efficient and decarbonized solutions for residential buildings? (2) How do these policies respond to country-specific barriers to the energy transition in the building sector, and (3) What effects do they have on the actual implementation of technological and societal solutions?

Paving a Concrete Path to Globalization with China's Belt and Road Initiative Through the Middle East

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English
Authors:
Liana M. Petranek

This article discusses China's economic development and political influence in the Middle East, and the construction of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It also discusses Xi Jinping's vision for relationships with the Middle East states as its natural partners, the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF), the law of value, and the antagonistic contradictions China will encounter in its path to accumulation with US hegemony in the region.

The price of innovation: An analysis of the marginal cost of green buildings

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English
Authors:
Andrea Chegut,
Piet Eichholtz,
Nils Kok

Energy efficiency plays an important role in reducing the carbon externality from buildings, but economic analyses of more efficient, green building have thus far ignored input costs. This paper finds that the average marginal cost of green-labeled construction projects is smaller than the value premiums documented in the literature. However, design fees, representing just a fraction of development costs but paid largely up-front, are significantly higher for green construction projects. These projects also take longer to complete.

The Economic and Social Benefits of Low-Carbon Cities: A Systematic Review of the Evidence

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English
Authors:
Andy Gouldson, Andrew Sudmant, Haneen Khreis, Effie Papargyropoulou

Over half of the population of the world live in
urban areas. This means that efforts to meet human
development goals and sustain economic growth
must be concentrated in cities. However, the pursuit
of more prosperous, inclusive and sustainable urban
development is complicated by climate change, which
multiplies existing environmental risks, undermines the
effectiveness of existing infrastructure, and creates new
resource constraints.
In this paper, we conclusively demonstrate that there

Residential energy efficiency standards in Australia: where to next?

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English
Authors:
Stephen Berry,
Tony Marker

Increasing the energy and carbon efficiency of homes has been at the forefront of international climate change mitigation policy. In Australia, recent policy action led to the introduction of minimum energy efficiency standards for new homes within the Building Code of Australia in 2003, with subsequent stringency increases in 2006 and 2010.

Setting a standard for electricity pilot studies

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English
Authors:
Alexander L.Davis,
Tamar Krishnamurti,
Baruch Fischhoff,
Wandi Bruine de Bruin

In-home displays, dynamic pricing, and automated devices aim to reduce residential electricity use—overall and during peak hours. We present a meta-analysis of 32 studies of the impacts of these interventions, conducted in the US or Canada. We find that methodological problems are common in the design of these studies, leading to artificially inflated results relative to what one would expect if the interventions were implemented in the general population.

Understanding the contextual influences of the health outcomes of residential energy efficiency interventions: realist review

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English
Authors:
Nicola Willand, Cecily Maller, Ian Ridley

Residential energy efficiency interventions are complex social and construction programmes that may benefit health, yet the interactions between the material improvements, health and health-related outcomes, and householder responses are not well understood. While indoor winter warmth and householder satisfaction have been identified as the key mediators for physiological, mental and social health outcomes, this paper explores how programme contexts may have influenced the outcomes. This review revealed that common target populations were low income households, children and the elderly.

Boosting building renovation: An overview of good practices

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English
Authors:
Bogdan Atanasiu,
Ilektra Kouloumpi,
Marine Faber,
Cosmina Marian,
Ingeborg Nolte,
Oliver Rapf,
Dan Staniaszek

The main aim of this report is to contribute to the exchange of good practices and to support EU MS by providing potential ideas for the elaboration of long-term renovation plans. The report compiles renovation requirements as well as financial instruments, support programmes and market mechanisms for building renovation in a number of countries and regions. While the main focus of the report is on selected EU MS, a few global examples are also presented.

Incorporating Green Building Features and Initiatives into Commercial Property Valuation

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English
Authors:
Saul Nurick,
Karen Le Jeune,
Emma Dawber,
Ryan Flowers and Jennifer Wilkinson

The rapid acceptance of green buildings internationally has led to awareness of green building features and initiatives (GBFIs) in the South African property industry; however, among South African valuers, it seems the awareness is still in its infancy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with valuers of varying degrees of experience in Cape Town, online surveys were completed by a sample of South African valuers, and a valuation simulation was conducted to determine the impact of GBFIs.

Trajectory for Low Energy Buildings - Infrastructure and Customer Impacts

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Authors:
ENERGEIA

Proposed changes flowing from the former Council of Australian Government’s Trajectory for Low Energy Buildings project1 (the trajectory) are expected to reduce annual electricity consumption of new and refurbished residential and commercial premises by 36 TWh by 2050, compared to current standards.

Beyond an ‘informed opinion’: evidence-based practice in the built environment

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English
Authors:
Christian Criado-Perez,Catherine G Collins,
Chris J Jackson,
Philip Oldfield,
Brett Pollard,
Karin Sanders

This study examines the sources of evidence that influence decision-makers who design or develop office buildings, and aims to explain why some managers engage more in evidence-based practice (EBP) than others. A mixed methods approach is conducted that combines quantitative results from 187 senior managers in the built environment and qualitative data from 18 interviewees. The respondents evaluated the use and trustworthiness of different sources of evidence, followed by an assessment of practitioners’ adoption and understanding of EBP.

ADDRESSING FINANCIAL OBJECTIONS TO SUSTAINABLE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

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English
Authors:
Susan Aiello

This article provides useful information that could help you address some barriers to sustainable initiatives: Every executive that you speak to is aware that data can be manipulated and may be skeptical of studies conducted by organizations that could benefit from a particular set of results. So I've included information on independent third-party studies. In challenging economic times, people are particularly concerned about short-term cash flow.

Urban Efficiency: A Global Survey of Building Energy Efficiency Policies in Cities

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English
Authors:
Tomoko Takagi,
Ryuichi Horie,
Gregory Trencher,
Yuko Nishida,
Kaoru Nakanishi,
Kanako Okano,
Zoe Sprigings,
Shannon Lawrence,
Eric Ast,
Cristina Paula Miclea,
Peter Graham

A Global Survey of Building Energy Efficiency Policies in Cities is a resource for city officials around the world as they design new policies for building energy efficiency, or review existing ones. The research should help close the evidence gap regarding city-level activity in building energy efficiency. As such, it is designed to be accessible to those working in the field in general, including researchers.

From Brown to Green: SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS IN LEGACY CITIES

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English
Authors:
ROBERT SIMON,
EUNKYU LEE

The research examines the installation of sustainable (green) property development, typified by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification in legacy cities in comparison to non-legacy cities. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), green buildings represent resource-efficient models for construction and operation that are designed to use fewer resources and generate less pollution.

Energy Efficiency and Thermal Comfort in Hospital Buildings: A Review

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English
Authors:
Anwer A. Gatea, Mohd Faizal Mohideen Batcha, Juntakan Taweekun

This paper aims to review the state of the art technologies for the energy efficiency within the hospitals sector. Hospitals are liable for an unstable amount of energy demand and joint emissions, because of their 24/7 nature of operation and hence resulting larger energy consumption than a typical commercial building. Additionally, they need high quality and warranted supplies of electricity. Due to increased energy demand and therefore the depletion of existing fossil fuel based sources, it is required to use the energy more efficient.

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